Cinnibar Island Chronicles #2
by Soshika
Summary: After their inclusion into Team Rocket, Mantis notices some odd things going on with her sibling...which lead to a vast conspiricy connecting the entire planet.
1. Default Chapter

pbPart One- Utter Lunacy/b  
p  
p"What the hell?!" that would be the Boss, Giovanii, in the other room. What he was screaming about is anyone's guess.   
p"MYRRRRRRUUUUUUU!" Roared a rather purturbed and noisey voice. Sounded like a pokemon, to me.  
p"MUAHAHA! It's MINE! All MINE!" Oh, i knew that one. That would be my sister, my twin, Soshika. She was obviously acting like a lunatic again. I teleported to the boss's office to see what they were up to.  
pYou know, i never would have thought a myuu-hitokage mix to be capable of causeing much damage to a flame-proof office, or for that matter my Normal class sister doing much damage to ANYTHING...but the office was a wreck. Looked like someone had parked the SS Anne in there. I mean, things were a mess. The boss's books were on the floor, most of them ablaze at this point. The furniture floated against the ceiling and a chair seemed to bump franticly against the window with a mind of its own, like it wanted to get out. I didn't blame it. Soshika was running around the room with a small black computer-type box in her hands, otherwise known as an unactivated TM. the Hitomyuu was chasing her, spurting fire from her hands every now and again that always missed my sister, but inevitably hit something else. And that which couldnt' be burned, such as the flame-proof rug or curtains were promptly shreaded by my sister running amok with her claws. Again.   
p"WAHAHAHA! You can't catch me, you little fire bug!" Soshika ran up the bookshelf, which quickly began to totter under her unbalanced weight. "Uh-oh," muttered my less then for-thinking sibling, leaping off the shelf to catch onto the ceiling fan. the shelf tumbled down, landing on Hitomyuu. It took less then a second for all the books in the shelf to burn to cinders. Even less for the angry little psy-fire pokemon to bash right through the tough wood and glare at my sister. Hitomyuu had been stripped of levetation.   
pThe boss just stood in the doorway with an open mouth. Hmmm that was interesting. the last time he'd gotten this look was when Hellcat -my sister's fire evolution- had gotten loose and burned his office up very nicely. Hence the fire precautions. I think he most likely would have said something, but the constant damage was shocking him into submission. I levetated next to him with my arms crossed, watching my sister spin around on the fan.   
pNow, my sister and i are lab experiments from a long while back. I myself am a human/myuu/meowth mix-up that came out looking like a more preportioned blue Myuutu with a double-split tail. My sister is human/eevee/meowth, but since we were born on the same day from the same tank, we're considered twins. Besides, it was the same meowth and same human in us. We joined Team Rocket a few months ago, after they saved our hides in a showdown with Myuutu. We're calling that fight a draw, because we all got away. Anyhoo. One of the Team Rocket scientists, Breeder Girl, has been checking our DNA ever since. That's where she got the Hitomyuu.   
pMy sister is a true weirdo. she has long pointy ears and a long tail, and claws. Basicly she looks like a yellow meowth that got mixed up with a human girl in a blender. Some people i guess found that attractive...some people being ghosts. You don't even want to know about that.   
pSo, my sister and i were dressed in the newer version of the Team Rocket uniforms. That is to say, the white ones with the big red Rs and the black boots. Soshika, of course, had black gloves with holes cut for her claws. That was to keep from picking up any element stones. When she did that, she evolved. That was what the eevee in her did. Me, i was just way smarter then her. For one thing, i never fell on my arse.   
pCRRRRRRRACK! the fan blade snapped and Soshika fell to the floor with the Anakin Skywalker like "Oops!" that she used a lot. Hitomyuu jumped on her stomach and snatched the TM in both hands, and started to run. My sister, though, was not about to give up the fight.   
p"MINE!" Soshika snarled and swung the Hitomyuu and TM around, hoping to fling the little pokemon off. Hitomyuu stayed hooked on.   
p"MYRRUUUN!!" it roared, trying to speak in a language we could understand. Being Psy, i could read its thoughts. Basicly, it said the same thing my sister did.   
pThe match for the TM went on like that for a few hours. I eventually leaned against the door to watch. The boss remained paralyzed. Eventually someone would intervein to end this, but in the meantime i was being well entertained. A small smile tugged at my face.   
pSomeone interveined alright. All too soon.   
p"Charmew!" Breeder Girl, while she was small, was most certainly just as violent as any of her creations. She stormed into the boss's room, bypassing me and Giovanii to glare at her little creation. the Hitomyuu dropped the TM and looked pleading, my sister just secreted the device away inside her amply large cargo pockets. Soshika sure made wierd modifications to her uniform. Yeesh.   
pHitomyuu held its little red paws together behind its back and made its eyes water, even as its tail set fire to another book. I snickered. Breeder Girl just folded her arms.   
p"Charmew, go back to the lab. Who let you out anyway? And Soshika, you're supposed to be resting. Same goes for you, Mantis." She looked at me and i winced. Damn this medical stuff anyway. "I ran enough tests on you today to make you both weak as baby Eevees. What are you doing up?"  
pSoshika, who was now sitting on a corner of what USED to be the boss's desk kicked her feet against the splintered wood. "A pokeperson can only take so much of ping-pong, BG! If i didn't get out of there, i'd go mad, i tell you! MAD!! MAAAAAAD!! WAHAHA!" she grinned perfectly normally. This was her idea of humor, probobly gleaned off of Stryker or Blackskunk or Raizap...someone. Or maybe it was just her. Like the time she renamed all her pokemon "Self."  
pBreeder Girl didn't buy it. She snapped her fingers and pointed towards the door. "Out! I want to see you both in the rec room in fifteen minutes or i'll send YOU to Dr. Oak's lab!" She pointed to Soshika. I laughed, but she turned on me. "And YOU i'll pump so full of anasthetic you'll be out for three days!"  
pI scowled. She wasn't kidding, she'd done it several times. Most often to one of the guys when they were getting too friendly with some reluctant girl. It was funny to watch, but not so funny if she did it to YOU. I nodded my head and turned, giving the still staring boss a pat on the back.   
p"You'll recover, boss," i told him and left. Soshika followed me.   
p  
pbPart Two- More Lunacy, revolving around ping-pong balls and TMs  
p/b  
p"So, what was the TM, Sosh?" i looked up from the magazine i was reading and regarded Soshika, who was playing ping-pong with an extremely adept Lickitung that used its tongue as a paddle. only problem was the ball got slightly sticky. Ugh.   
pMy sister grinned and missed another of the Lickitung's serves. It was winning by a long shot. "HA! You won't belive it! It was sooo mega kick-arse! Guess!"  
pMy magazine was pretty interesting. it had an article on the caves of Cerulean city, which they were checking out. When we'd fought Myuutu, a lot of fallout had come from our last attack. Some of it had aparently been swept up north to Cerulean. They had been finding weird stuff in the caves. "Hmmm..." i muttered, not really caring. "Let me guess...dream eater."  
pSoshika blinked, a pingpong ball bouncing off the side of her head. "How'd you know?"  
pWell DUH let's see here...i was a psy pokeperson after all. i could read her mind. "Lucky guess."  
p"Oh," said my ever gullible sib and turned back to her pingpong game. A ball imidiately struck her on teh nose. She scowled at the Lickitung and threw her paddle at it. "OOOW!! You ugly bugger!!"   
pI smiled, slightly. the Lickitung took the paddle between the eyes and fell down, dazed. Soshika threw the pingpong ball across the table, and it bounced and stuck to Lickitung's tongue. "One million points for me," Soshika decided aloud. "I win. You LOOSE." She grinned and did a little exagerated pointing towards the dazed Lickitung.   
pI snickered. Same old sibling, right from the day i hit her on the back of the head in the fighting ring. She probobly had only matured a little bit since then. i knew she'd only grown about four levels.   
p"I'm going down to the kitchen," She announced, stepping over the pokemon. "Want anything?"  
p"Aw, cheeze and rice. Why not?" i tossed my magazine over my shoulder and followed her out. We trotted towards the caffeteria, and spotted a few people we knew on the way. Some of the GYM leaders had even come by for a visit. Maybe something big was going down.   
p  
pbPart Three- As Paul the Samurai said..."It begins already.."  
p/b  
pI had my back turned when Soshika tackled Raizap, unprovoked. I'd been pouring some orange juice into some coffee, because i liked the taste and i wasn't so hungry at any rate. The microwave was unusable, after a few prehistoric pokemon being put in there, so i had to use the stove. Soshika's Charmander, who was -as usual- walking around without any pokeball or attention was in the kitchen too, so he lit the burner. I wasn't such a fire person myself. I stuck to what a i knew, which was Psy pokemon. My team had a Clefairy, Jigglypuff, Hypno, Abra and Gastly on it. I was STILL missing the Huanter i had been meaning to get. That had been when my twin and i had gone to Lavender town to rescue this very Charmander from being burried alive. That was also where we met Soshika's Ghost-boyfriend, Josh. I don't much like him, way too dark. Even a little evil. But most definitly he was DEAD. That was the creepy part. And everyone around Team Rocket seemed very quiet about that...  
pBut Raizap hit the floor suddenly, and without even thinking thundershocked the entire room. Even i got a little singed, but i had the trick down pat of putting my tail to the floor as an extra ground. But Soshika fell back, zapped pretty nicely, and hit the floor. Raizap brained her with a ketchup bottle, but since it was the plastic squeezy kind it didn't do any damage. Soshika grabbed the ketchup and spontaniously started to fight with the giant Raichu in much the same fashion she'd attacked Hitomyuu.   
p"RAAAAAAAGH!! Ketchup!! WAHAHAH!" Soshika gripped the ketchup tightly and dug her heels into the ground, tuggin hard. Raizap tugged harder.   
p"RAI RAI RAI RAI!! ZAP!! RAIRARAIIII!!" The Raichu was stuttering, a bad sign. I for once wished i had multipul tails like a Vulpix so i could ground them ALL. When Raizap stuttered, she had charged up MASSIVE amounts of electricity.   
pI could see it even now, zipping across her face, and even from her tail to her ears. Soshika didn't notice and growled, digging her claws deep into the ketchup bottle's plastic. "RRRARG!!"  
pRaizap let loose a Thunderbolt that filled the room with glowing blue light. Unlike most people think, electricity isn't yellow when it strikes nearby. It's blue, and it smells like every electrical socket everywhere just sparked at once. I winced as it hit me, and the coffe machine exploded. Hitokage, the Charmander, just fainted straight out. The microwave "dinged" and turned on, for no apparent reason and the refrigorator bulb blew out. In fact, all the lights blew. It seemed to start a domino effect that ran down the hallways, blacking out the entire complex. Stryker came running in through one door, Blackskunk and Hawk through the other.   
p"What's going on-" Stryker started.   
p"Is there any fire? Huh? Explosions maybe?" Hawk was looking totally insane, as usual.  
p"Is there trouble? I brought the M4!" Blackskunk was already aiming with this be-utiful custom gun thing. I didn't quite know much about guns, but i knew this thing was very pretty looking. i also knew it was very dangerous, especially in the army-finatic's hands. It was "The" M4 rather then "a" M4 because, simply, there WAS no other M4 on the base to match this. Even new recruits knew that.   
pSince it was totally dark, and besides me and Soshika no one else had the quasi-Meowth night vision, i decided to help the guys out a bit. I glowed, just slightly, and they were able to place the sounds of fighting to two people.   
pSoshika and Raizap were both still standing, still fighting over the ketchup bottle and Raizap was still shocking my twin, who didn't seem to notice at all. Soshika just growled furiously and tugged at the ketchup. I didn't know why, she barely even LIKED ketchup...  
p"Hey, that's enough!" Stryker tried to pull Raizap and Soshika apart, but just got shocked. He yelped and hopped backwards, shaking his painfully numb hand. "Mantis, what happened here?"  
pI shrugged. "You got me. Soshika just attacked Raizap for no reason. or maybet he ketchup was the reason, but i don't know."  
p"They're obviously both rabid," Skunk said, taking aim. "I'll shoot them in the legs, then we'll be able to examine them."  
p"No wait! I got a better idea!"  
pHawk looked happy. "Can we nuke the whole room?"  
pI raised an eyebrow. "Cheeze and rice, man. get a CAT scan...No, someone get someone with tranqs in here. We can tranq em out."  
p"Someone get someone...pretty vauge, eh?" Stryker laughed but turned on his heels and RAN. whatever was going on it sure was disturbing. Something was definitly wrong with my twin. If i didn't know any better, i'd say she was turning into Hellcat, but Hellcat was at least more coherent. And Hellcat's tail and hair was fire. That was also another give-away.  
pBlackskunk kept Raizap and Soshika covered with his M4 the whole time, but i didn't see why. Soshika certainly wasn't attacking US.   
pStryker returned with not just one someone, but three somones. Breeder Girl, Daemon Wyrm and Soshika's Guild leader, aBulbasaur. aBulbasaur wasn't a real bulbasaur, but for some really bizzare reason, he could turn into one. Maybe he had Ditto spliced into his blood. I didnt' know.  
p"We got a slight situation here," i told them.   
paBulbasaur shook his head. "What the heck happened to her? She sure isn't acting like a Ninja."  
p"Obviously not. She's acting totally nuts. Daemon, you had a Myuu for a while. What can you tell me?" I wa curious as to this whole thing too.  
pDaemon obviously had no more idea then the rest of us. "Mew never did anything like this. I mean, unprovoked fighting. Has anyone tried to stop these two?"  
pRaizap was biting Soshika, who was kicking back. Stryker snickered slightly. "It's not as simple as it might look."  
pHawk and Skunk exchanged looks. I knew they'd both been lectured and beaten up on by Deamon plenty of times. "You're welcome to try."  
pDaemon gave them a look that labled them incompetant and strided towards the two fighters. Grabbing both their tails, he pulled, but only got shocked and scratched up badly as a result. We laughed.   
pI grinned. "Heh."  
pAs Daemon fell backwards, maybe unconcius maybe just badly shocked into paralysis, Breeder Girl reached a hand inside her lab coat and pulled out a teensy shot-gun type thing. "You were right, they do look as if they need some tranqulizing. At least Soshika does. aBulba, can you hold Raizap down while we get Soshika out of here? Obviously she'll be a little upset." Breeder Girl loaded a tranq dart into the little gun and fired it once.   
pTerrified of needles as she was, Soshika threw a fit. She jerked backwards, tearing the ketchup bottle in half and spraying the better part of the kitchen in the red gook. Raizap, distracted by the sudden presence of ketchup turned and started licking it off the walls. Skunk turned and took aim at my twin again, who was staggering around covered in ketchup and just a liiiiiitle off kilter from the tranq.  
p"I'm bleeding i'm bleeeeeeeeding! OOOhoho NOOO!!" Soshika gripped the sides of her head and fell down to her knees, howling. "BLEEEDING!! WAHAHA!!" Tears started streaking down her eyes, and Skunk lowered his M4. Aparently she wasn't much of a threat going under the tranq.   
pStryker turned to Hawk. "We need the doctor up here...tell him to bring a Chansey. aBulba, see if you can get Daemon out of here before Raizap starts trying to eat him?" aBulba nodded, morphed gracefully into a Bulbasaur and wrapped his vine around Deamon's ankles. The Bulbasaur began to drag Daemon from the room, none too gently bumping his head against the doorframe in the process. The rest of us just looked at Breeder Girl.   
pShe put the tranq gun back in her labcoat and pointed to me and Stryker. "Get her under control and take her to my lab. I'll run ahead and get the place ready for Ketchup Queen here. Blackskunk, can you go back and tell the doc to meet us there?"  
pSkunk stiffened. "I only take orders from ME!"   
pBreeder Girl sighed and assumed a pleeding tone. "Would you PLEASE go tell the doctor to meet us in my lab? Please?"  
pSkunk grinned and turned to go. "Since you asked so nicely."  
pI shook my head. This place was filled with lunatics. a whole LOT of lunatics.   
pStryker and i flanked Soshika, who by now as just sobbing softly that she was bleeding. Stryker looked at the "blood," then to me and told my twin; "It's only ketchup."  
p"I'm bleeeeding, i'm...huh?"  
p"Ketchup. 'Chu food. Tomatoe paste. Got it? Up. Let's go." I hauled my sister halfway to her feet, Stryker got her other side.   
pHe frowned, the ketchup smearing on both our uniforms. "How come i always wind up with bizzare jobs?"  
pI grinned evilly. "Hey, you joined. We just came along for the joyride. Now you're stuck with all us lunatics."  
p"You read the Wraith Squadron books?"  
p"Very similar, huh?"  
p"Very."  
pThere was a brief silence as we walked my sibling who was only semi-concious down the hall.  
pI broke it. "It sucks that Phanon died."  
pStryker laughed at that. Phanon was one of the characters in those books. "Yeah, he was cool."  
p  
  
  
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	2. Part 2

pbPart Four- Big trouble in Little Bubble...Not really i just like the game Jumping Flash 2  
p/b  
pBreeder Girl walked out of her lab and removed her rubber gloves. I don't know why she wore them, she was just dumping water on my sister to wash off the Ketchup. Stryker had gone by now, but Blackskunk and Dr. Oak had taken his place. Skunk and Oak were in an animated discussion about explosions. I decided to not partake.   
pShe shot me a glance and turned to the doctor. "Oak, do you faint at the sight of blood?"  
pA very stupid question to ask the man who had pokemon exploding all over his lab. Oak shook his head. "No."  
pBG motioned for him to follow her back into the lab. "C'mon i gotta show you this."  
pThey left. the door shut again. Skunk, with no one else to talk to, started to talk to me. "What do you think that was about?"  
pI thought a minute. Just to say i had been thinking about it. "I think she is really bleeding and not all of that red stuff was ketchup."  
pSkunk digested this. "Maybe i shot her?"  
pI closed my eyes. Please oh please oh please don't put me in Deamon's shoes, i thought. "Skunk, you never fired a shot."  
p"But i never miss! So if i had, she would be bleeding. And she is bleeding."  
pI covered my head with my hands. "Blackskunk, PLEASE stop..."  
pSkunk wasn't stopping. "Soshika is a hacker, or at least a minor one. Maybe she accidentally uploaded a virus into herself."  
pI peeked an eye between my fingers. "That's crazy."  
p"Bear with me now." he seemed deep in thought. The man with the custom M4 was deep in thought. I was scared. "You and your sister are more Pokemon then person, right?"  
pI nodded. "Yes."  
p"Well, pokemon are affected by electronics. We catch them as energy, store them via PC and teach them moves with Technical and Hidden machines. Pokemon are even found inside computer systems, right?"  
pI thought about that Porygon thing someone had found lurking in the Team Rocket computer system. So far as i knew we were now offering it as a prize at our casino. "You're right so far."  
pSkunk folded his hands together and looked towards the door to the lab. "So, pokemon may be succeptable to computer viruses."  
pI furrowed my eyebrows and frowned. "Okay, i see where you're going. But how would a virus get IN a pokemon?"  
pSkunk shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe Soshika was carrying an infected disk, or picked up a corrupted pokeball or stuck her finger in a disk drive or something. I'm just saying, she sounds right now like a computer that was attacked by a virus."  
psighing, i wondered about that. "that is the most ludicrous, rediculous, stupid idea anyone has come up with. But so far, it's the best explanation anyone's offered. How do you know so much about viruses anyway?"  
pThe M4 was suddenly in my face. I stared straight down the muzzle, where it was very dark and smelled very very bad for me to be that close to. "If i told you, i'd have to kill you," Skunk said calmly.  
pRaising my hands above my head, i indicated surrender. For a minute, Skunk seemed to think his options over. That in itself is very scary, because considering he was NOT fighting in any war and i was NOT his enemy, he was deciding whether or not i was really a danger. Danger enough to be eliminated, i thought.   
pThe door to the lab suddenly opened, and the M4 swung around to face the new threat. Skunk, obviously knowing Oak a little better then me, imidiately lowered the weapon. "What's the findings?"  
pOak laughed evilly. "You better come see this! Chansey!" Oak called aloud. Suddenly, a Chansey raced into the room and saluted.   
p"Chan-See!"  
p"Go develop a new TM on this!" he handed the Chansey a slip of paper and motioned for us to follow. "Come on!"  
pWe entered the lab. I'd half expected to see my sister tied down to the cot, or at the very least in a straight jacket. Instead, she was sitting on the table perfectly fine in a white examination outfit, looking around her and seeming quite groggy. Aparently the tranq hadn't been enough to knock her out. She seemed pretty out of it. There were also bandages on her arms, legs, tail face and feet. Just small band-aids but the wounds were undoubtably actually bleeding. And more seemed to be popping up as time progressed.  
pBreeder Girl had a blood pressure thingie strapped around Soshika's arm and was monitering (obviously) her blood pressure, at the same time listening to her heart rate through a stethiscope and periodicly switching hands to make notes on a clip pad.   
pOak didn't even wait for us to ask, he just launched into a monolog. "We've found out something really interesting here. While Soshi's healthy by physical standards, tests show her mentality has dropped back to almost total pokemon state. She was bleeding from several small cuts, but by now they've stopped. We're not quite sure where she got those, just that maybe they were inflicted from INSIDE."  
p"And all this means..." i waved my hand in a circle to indicate i didn't get it.   
pOak elaborated. "She's falling apart on the insides, basicly. It's really cool, i want to call it the Smoosh TM. An excelent way to get rid of a pokemon you no longer want."  
pI decided NOT to think about Chanseys falling apart all over the place. "Yeah, but why is she thinking like a total pokemon? and not even one as smart as Raizap or Myuu at that."  
pBreeder Girl looked up. "So far as we can guess, Soshika's mind is going back to what it knows. the very basics of her mind."  
pSkunk rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I get it. Like a computer on Safe Mode after a virus hit it."  
pOak pointed and grinned. "YES! Exactly!! MUAHAHHA!"  
pI frowned. "So, why is she so violent?"  
pAnother evil grin from the evil Oak. "I'll show you. CHANSEY!!"  
pThis time a different Chansey showed up. Oak was careful to hide it from Soshika's feild of view. i didn't know why yet. "Chansey, get me a Marowak from the lab. Yeah, the one we were testing for a Self Destruct HM. Bring it up here."  
pThe Chansey ran off with a lot of agility for a pink egg with funny hair. a moment later it arrived holding a highly irate Marowak over its head, just out of clubbing range. Skunk and me must have looked rather confused.   
p"Chansey, drop the Marowak. And go bench press a Rhydon! Don't think i didn't see you huffing from stress. Yeah, yeah. I think maybe add another Rhydon every three hours. And OUTSIDE their pokeballs, or else i'll send a few buddies of yours into Self Destruct hell...."  
pThe Chansey took off like its butt was on fire.   
pBreeder Girl suddenly jumped out of Soshika's way, taking her equipment with her. Oak mimiced. Skunk and I dove for cover behind respective close objects and peeked over to watch. Whatever this was, it was going to be bloody.  
pSoshika spotted the Marowak just as it spotted her. The two beings glared for a minute, the Soshika launched herself off the cot and straight for the Marowak.   
p"MAMMAL BOOOOOOOONE!! MIIIIIIIIIINE!! WAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!" my twin collided with the Marowak rather violently and crashed its head into the wall. The Marowak was saved by its boney skull, and came back with a Bone Club attack that my sib shrugged off like it was nothing. She quickly gripped the mammal bone in both hands and procceeded to enact the Hitomyuu/Raizap fiasco all over again until Breeder Girl tranqed them both. This time with a heavier dose. My sister fell asleep right off the bat.  
pI stood up and looked at the shattered beakers and broken lab equipment that was now scattered everywhere. Skunk did the same. "So, what does this mean?" he asked. "She attacks the pokemon for stupid stuff, but not us."  
pOak grinned, and Breeder Girl answered. Cheerfully of course. "She's reverting back to a pokemon state. That means she's willing to battle any other pokemon for any other reason. Of course, she's still trying to make excuses subconciously...that's why she attacks with the purpose of taking something the other pokemon has."  
pI didn't much get it at all, but i said; "Oh."  
pMaybe Skunk understood, because he said; "How do we stop this? She can't just run around beating up every pokemon in Team Rocket."  
pOak laughed evilly. "Unnessicary sedation!"  
pI scowled, cause that idea didn't much appeal to me. No real reason, maybe just that it was BARBARIC! "I'll find a way to stop it."  
pBreeder Girl and Oak AND Skunk looked at me. "You? How do you plan to do that?"  
pI gritted my teeth together. "Same way you rebuild a computer that's crashed. I'll find peices of her memory and bring them back here. You know, stuff like...uh...." i really had to think about this. What could i find? Maybe...just maybe...there was one thing..but i wasn't so sure.  
pSkunk laughed. "Oh great, a quest."  
pI turned my back on them and walked out of the lab. Surprisingly, BG and Skunk followed. Oak remained behind, probobly thinking up weird TMs. "The situation needs to be delt with," i stated. "And we can't just keep her tranqed all the time. it isn't right. The only other option is trying to get her back to normal. and this is the only way i see to do it."  
pSkunk seemed to think that over about a minute. "Come with me. I'll set you up with all the supplies you'll need to survive on a quest."  
pI honestly didn't think it would be that hard, but he was the military guy. He was the expert at roughing it sooooo......  
p  
pbPart Five- Cannibulba, Nidorabid, Pikafreaka./b  
p  
pI really wished they hadn't done this to me. That is, made me take my sister's Guild pokemon. I trudged down the road adn REALLY REGRETTED not having MY team with me. My team over whom i had total control, my team to whom i could converse about battle stratagies...but no. Instead i had my sister's Bulbasaur, Pikachu, Nidoran Male and Abra. It wasn't even a GOOD Abra! All it knew was confusion and teleport, and it's colour was the plain old dusty brown ALL Abras have.   
pI walked down the road with a little bit of exertion. It was midday, and i was starting right outside of Saffron, which i doubly did not like because for some reason all the IDIOTS live in Saffron...maybe that's why Team Rocket lives in the town nearby. THAT town they're all obsessed with gambling...THIS town they all just walk around in a daze. Exept for the Silphs. They're ALWAYS working...I decided the best course of action would be to go South, that way i could go sneak around Vermilion for any tidbit to my sister's life. I wasn't quite sure why, i just felt drawn to that place.  
pIt was right outside the town where some stupid kids were making out. Now, if it's one thing i can't stand it's people who have no regard for others. I mean, they could at LEAST have gone into the tall grass or somethin. Cheeze and rice. I picked up a good sized rock and threw it at them. It smashed against them, right between both their cheeks and they turned away from eachother, alarmed. by this time i had another rock in my hand and was bouncing it in my paw.  
p"What the-?" The boy looked pretty confused. "What are you?"  
pI snorted and tossed the rock at him. it hit him on the upper torse, so it didn't do any real damage. "What, you plan on gawking at Pokepeople all day or making out the majority of the time. I see you got pokemon." I pointed to the pokemon trainer belt around his waist. "In the name of Team Rocket, let's fight. If i win you stop making out on this road. I mean, get a room, alright?"  
pThe girl flushed, most likely embarassed. Well, she ought to be, little slut. She had to be only thirteen. Her boyfriend got defensive and snatched up a pokemon. "Okay, i meet your challange! No one talks to me and my girl like that and gets away with it!"  
pI laughed. "Yeah, right."  
pHe threw the pokeball. "Go! Mankey!"  
pI threw the third pokeball on my belt. "Go, Hypno! Oh, damnit! I mean..."  
pToo late. The worthless little yellow critter emerged and looked rather upset that i'd gotten its name wrong. "Pika pi-ko!" it snapped.  
pHow could my sister stand this thing, i wondered. It was so...so...so...CUTESY!! "ugh.."  
pThe boy laughed. "That's all you got? Mankey! Fury swipes!"  
pI gritted my teeth. "Pikachu, umm..." I didn't really know any of Pikachu's attacks. "Uuuuh use your best attack!" I was a Psy trainer, how was i supposed to know electric attacks? Yeesh...  
pThe Mankey got about within two feet of the pikachu before it started to do something i'd never EVER seen a pokemon do before...  
pIt walked back to its pokeball, reached inside and pulled out something skimpy and black. I was scared by now. The pikachu put the thing on...it looked like woman's underwere or something. Quickly, it pulled a makeup compact out of the pokeball and painted its face white with bright red lipstick and exagerated eyeliner. My face paled. "Soshi...you didn't..."  
pThe pikachu started to dance and sing. Well, more SEDUCE and sing...the sound going through my mind as a translation was hard to miss. "I'm just a SWEET transvestite...from transexual! Transylvania!"  
pI was looking at the Frank N. Furter of Pikachus. Soshi had aparently made the thing watch her Rocky Horror Picture Show video tape as many times as it could bear. This was just a little to weird for me.   
pThe mankey, no less imune to the Frank N. Furter pikachu's charm then Brad or Janet were to Tim Curry's in the movie, started to swoon. Then, neat as you please, it fainted dead away from the pikachu's overbearing sexuality. I called the yellow rodent back to its pokeball and shuddered.   
p"Ugh...Soshika, you are friggin weird."  
pThe boy, on the other hand, was only shook up about loosing. "Shoot! Okay, go Spearow!" he grinned evilly at me. "Level thirty."  
pI laughed aloud. "Ooooh i'm shakin in my boots. Try this on for size." I threw a random pokeball into the dust. Out jumped another small cutesy rodent, but this one was pink, spikey and foaming at the mouth.  
p"NIIIIIIIIIDORAN!" it roared, but the translation in my mind was just garbled gibberish. It must be rabid, i thought.  
p"Spearow, Peck!" Commanded the idiot trainer. The Spearow flew at Nidorabid with an annyoing SCRAAAAAAW sound.  
pI knew a little bit about Nidorans. They couldn't learn psy attacks, but they were weak to them. I studied up on my enemies, to say the very least. "Okay, Nido. Horn attack!"  
pNidoran ignored me and lunged, snarling at the Spearow. For a few minutes all anyone could see was flying saliva and feathers, but when Nidoran calmed down a bit, all that was left of the Spearow was a bloody mass of bones and guts. I recalled Nidoran before he could go off and attack the boy trainer. This was getting bizzare, the whole battle thing.   
pThe boy, surprised at loosing, fell back to be silent. His girlfriend/whore was in no way ready to let her toyfriend be beaten like that. Maybe she was obsessed with making out in public places, i didn't know. In any case, she challenged me.  
p"You can't beat up Steve like that! I say let's fight!" She threw a pokeball. "Victreebell, go!"  
pI threw the first pokeball i had my hand on. All Soshika's pokemon would be okay for this battle, with one exception...  
p"BUUUUUUUUULBAAAA!" roared the Bulbasaur. Just my luck. That happened to be the exception. Oh well, maybe it was weird like all the others Soshika had. I took a minute to Psy-walk through its mind and see what attacks it had.  
pI don't know how she did it, but the Bulbasaur knew Bite. That would probobly work well, i figured. "Bulba, Bite attack!"  
p"Victreebell! Stun Spore!"  
pBulbasaur got slightly stunned, but not much. It leapt at the Victreebell and started biting it. But not JUST biting it...SWALLOWING what it bit. The Victreebell got recalled before Bulba could finish his meal, but the weird little plant dino looked at me, licked its lips and smiled. "Bul-ba."  
pI paled. This about did it. My sister was a vegitarian, i knew that...but she'd trained a BULBASAUR in that image...A Cannibalistic Bulbasaur. I shivered. Will the maddness never end, i wondered.  
pThe girl, horrified by the weirdness she'd seen here today, turned and ran screaming. Her toyfriend followed her. I put my hands on my hips and sniffed. What a bunch of morans.   
PThe Bulbasaur was looking around for something else to eat. When i spotted it trying to pounce on an Oddish, i decided to call it back. It returned with a lot of reluctance.   
pOkay, that about did it for psycotics for today. I turned and began to walk back into Vermillion.   
p  
  
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	3. Part 3

pbPart Six- Kojiro appears!/b  
p  
pThe last thing i expected when i hit Vermillion was to see a Team Rocket operative. Usually we tried to keep our involvements discreet in this town. The streets were wide and the alleyways were teensy, so no one needed to see us, really. Not for any long period of time. The air smelled like salt, which i liked because it reminded me faintly of Cinnibar island...that was where my sister and i had lived before we'd run away. At any rate, Vermillion was far more prospurous and definitly more alive then Cinnibar. Some guy was selling Sock Mankeys on the docks. i decided to pretend i didn't see him.  
pTrying to avoid the Sock Mankey vendor and people selling "Tasty Toasty Tentacool on a stick" i backed towards a lot where some demolition was going on. And i mean DEMOLITION. there was a Machop beating the ground to little teensy peices and some guy standing nearby ordering it around. I tripped backwards over the low fence in that area and fell over it, hitting my head on a rock in the road.   
p"Oh, damnit! That hurt!" I levetated up and Psy blasted the rock. It flew on a direct trajectory into a nearby bush. The bush yelped and someone fell out of it.  
p"Oh no, not you!"  
p"Hi!" Kojiro picked himself up, dusted off his TR uniform and scrambled towards me. Kojiro was also called James by most of our operatives, and usually was out working on odd end jobs with his pink-haired counterpart. I didn't know her real name, we all called her Jesse.   
p"What are you doing here?" Seeing Kojiro was a bad thing. It meant that something was going to go haywire, because it always did when either he or Jesse were around. That was why they were only Peon-class members. That was also why they were almost NEVER at the actual base. No one wanted it blown up. They'd already ruined the boss's theme park. Oh well, i'd heard it sucked anyway.  
p"I'm investigateing a way to get the Magikarp in the bay to go home." Kojiro explained proudly.  
p"The bay IS their home."  
p"Oh.." Kojiro blinked and seemed to think about that for an unusally long amount of time. "That explains why nothing is working then!"  
pI moaned and slumped a little, gritting my teeth. "Kojiro, please tell me you're joking.."  
p"No way! Hey, maybe if i used a really big net.."  
p"NETS ARE NOT ALWAYS THE PERFECT PLAN!" i screamed. I think i scared the human. he screamed and fell over.  
pHe didn't seem to be going anywhere. I started to walk towards town hall, where maybe i could find something leading up to my sister's past. I glanced over my shoulder at Kojiro. "Heh." He wasn't too smart, but he was kind of cute...in an idiot type way.  
pKojiro picked himself up and ran after me. "Hey wait!" he called. I quickened my pace but he matched it. Oh, bugger. "You're a pokemon! Tell me how to get the Magikarp to leave!"  
p"I am not a pokemon," i said, somewhat aggitated. Breeder Girl had classified my sister and i as Pokepeople. She also speculated Myuutu was a pokeperson, and that there were others out and around in the world. Basicly a pokeperson was a bipeadal pokemon that showed above-average reasoning skills, and sometimes mastered spoken language. There also had to be a trace of Human in teh DNA, but that came second. Without the Human they were just superpokemon. That is, really smart monsters.   
pStopping and blinking in confusion, Kojiro's mouth formed a little "o." i kept walking, and he kept following. "So, where are you going?"  
p"Out," i muttered. "Around. Possably Lavender. Possably Cerulean."  
p"That's great! That's where i'm going too! There's people in both those towns who are pokemon experts. I'll steal any records on Magikarp they have, then use them to clear the bay!"  
p"Kojiro..."  
p"What?"  
p"Nothing...nothing at all." He wasn't thinking ahead. He would probobly get his hand slammed in a filing cabinete, but that wasn't my problem. HE wasn't my problem. I was on a seperate mission.   
p  
pbPart Seven- A little bit of this, a little bit of that aaaaaaand....PRESTO! Instant perminant problem...AKA Kojiro.  
p/b  
pKojiro was leaning on the tabletop, looking pretty bored and not really reading the book on Magikarps he'd found. "Let's get out of here, this is boring," he whined.   
pI didn't listen. I was busy looking through old newspaper clippings. So far i'd found a few on the destruction of Cinnibar's labs, and a tape of the broadcast we'd heard while in Vermillion. It was something like i"Attention! Attention: the pokemon lab on Cinnibar Island has been destroyed! While it was not as badly damaged as the ajoining manor where the researchers stayed, all but three rooms were leveled. Casualties are high. Eye-witnesses report the destruction was brought on by a top-secret pokemon experiment named Mew-two. No further information is available at this time, although the local gym leader has locked his gym tightly and will allow no-one to enter. Anyone planning on taking the sea route to Pallet through Cinnibar, please avoid doing so."/i  
pBut that didn't do me much good. I needed something more solid, something that i could build on. I wasn't sure what, though. Kojiro wasn't helping at all. I flipped through another bunch of yellowed papers, searching.   
pSomething caught my eye. "Hey, check this." I spun the paper and showed it to Kojiro.  
pHe looked at it for a minute with minimal intrest. "A kidnapping. So?"  
pI rolled up the paper solomly and hit Kojiro over the head with it soundly. He fell forward and smacked his face on the book he was supposedly reading. "Look, dipstick. It was a little kid who was kidnapped. In fact, a couple of them. Who kidnaps around here?"  
pHe gave me a blank look. "Us?"  
pI hit him again. this time he fell backwards, knocked over his chair and hit his head on the floor. I levetated over him. "No! Idiot! Cheeze and Rice! There's NO ONE who kidnaps around here. That's why this is weird!"  
p"What does that have to do with anything, then?"  
pI sighed and narrowed my eyes. Was i the ONLY person who could think on logic? "I'm thinking that these kids had to go somewhere."  
p"Ah. Good deduction."  
p"Shut up, i'm not done." I continued. "I'm thinking that the DNA for my sister and my Human parts came from somewhere. I'm also thinking that the first few attempts at Pokepeople weren't done straight from test tubes. Maybe grafting, maybe something was added to their blood to mutate them."  
pKojiro sat on the floor, looking bored again. "Now you've REALLY gone off on a limb..."  
pI threw the Magikarp book, and it hit him square in the face. He fell backwards again.   
p"OW!"  
p"Stop being an idiot. Look at it in the trimmed down version. Cinnibar needs Human DNA, Vermillion looses several kids over a short period of time. They never show back up. Got it?"  
pHe nodded enthusasticly. Probobly still had no idea what i was getting at, but at least he wasn't making inane comments anymore. "So, what are you going to do next?"  
pI sniffed the air in the library, which smelled dusty and old, kind of like a funeral home. I did not like that smell, it reminded me of Pokemon Tower. "Keep with my original plan. I'm taking the underground tunnel to Cerulean in ten minutes, right after i stop off at the pokemart for supplies. Bill has the most world-wide computer network in the world. I'll patch into it and check Cinnibar's records for anything on these kids."  
p"Why are you so interested in these kids anyway?"  
pI wanted to hit him again, but i didn't. "They might be able to patch up Soshika's mind. I mean, they are from the same place we were from."  
P"You think."  
pI hit him one last time, and Teleported outside. Teleporting to Cerulean was just a tad difficult...seeing as with all the weird Psy energy coming out of the caves up there it was risky. Fact was, teleporting ANYWHERE other then a few meters away was dangerous. There was still a lot of fallout from the fight with Myuutu. Any little bit of it could catch me and cast me goddess-knows-where. A botched Teleport was not something i wanted to see.   
pHolding the newspaper clipping up in my hand, i wondered if i should have tried to clone it. Nah, the library wasn't gonna miss one peice of paper. Actually, three and a tape but hey! They'd never know. I'd Teleported right around their security equipment.   
pThinking about it, i figured that Soshika's Abra should know something about these stories, seeing as Abras were known for visualizeing the past present and future all at once. That was why they slept so much, they forgot if they had slept or were going to sleep. They'd probobly eat a lot too, but they fed off the fat stored in their tails. I unclipped the pokeball from my belt and bounced it on my hand. Should i really risk this? i mean, the Abra might be just as weird as the pikachu, or just as rabid as the Nidoran. Did i want to put up with that?  
pOh hell, there was no better way. I tapped the little nexus and Abra materialized in the air in front of me, lev-ing like normal. So far so good.  
p"Abra, what can you tell me about these events?" I held up the paper with the Myuutu attack on it.   
pAbra squinted, like all Abras, and started to glow green. Oh brother, i figured. Here it comes.   
pInstead of something crazy like Abra imploding, i had the story played out vividly in my mind. It was like watching a hollywood reproduction of an event you were in. Like a war movie, but you know it's not all true cause you were actually in the war. It was deffinitly what had happened, but minus a lot of things that should have been there. Example being ME.   
pI'd lost an arm in that battle. Thanks to a ton of Hyperspray and a lot of help from Breeder Girl, it did grow back. But it didn't glow blue like the rest of me. It glowed yellow. Most bizzare, but at least i had two arms.   
pBut with Abra's retelling, i could fell the pain all over again, felt the blood and saw Myuutu larger then life destroying everything around her. I gasped, but the visualization ended just where the newspaper did. Firetrucks were arriving on the scene, but nothing seemed to be working yet.   
pI blinked, back in reality. The little Abra was levetating as if nothing had happened. i was pretty amazed. This was a master-storyteller Abra. Abradbury even. Heh..that was a good pun, i thought. I handed the Abra the tapes and clippings. "Hang onto these. I might need them again. Okay? Back in your pokeball."  
pAbra nodded and jumped inside. Weird, i thought. Deffinitly weird, but my favorite of them so far. I clipped Abra's pokeball to my belt and started walking again. I needed some things Skunk hadn't been able to give me. Thanks to these weird pokeballs Stryker's family had been working on called StorageBalls i didn't need a backpack or anything, but stuff like Revive and Hyperpotion you can never have enough of. Maybe i could also pick up a rare candy or two if they weren't too expensive.   
pI regarded one of the mint blue and black pokeballs at my waist. It was hard to believe they held enough computer information and shelter and even booby trap material for a whole army. Actually...knowing Skunk had done my packing...no it wasn't.  
PWhen i got to the pokemart, which stupidly was on the opposite side of town from the library, i was only slightly surprised to see the bushes conspicously moving to follow me. "Kojiro, what the hell do you want?"  
pKojiro stood up from the bush, a bunch of leaves clinging to his hair. "How did you know it was me?"  
p"You're the only one stupid enough to disguise yourself as a bush to follow somone. So what do you want?" I was only slightly annoyed. I could always Teleport straight to the tunnel and leave him all confused.   
p"Well, i wanted to follow you. You were going to go to a place for Pokemon research. They're bound to know about Magikarp."  
p"No."  
p"But Mantis, I have to get out of here!" He looked pleading now. What did he do, i wondered.  
p"Why?"  
pSheepishly he pointed over his shoulder. I looked. This had to be one of the weirdest things i'd seen all day. p  
Magikarp were leaping out of the water and flopping on the docks, flailing their fins franticly. Even more jumped onland every minute. The docks were starting to overflow with the dumb fish, and some houses were getting covered. I kicked Kojiro in the shin. He yelped, grabbed his shin, lost his balance and fell over.   
p"YOU IDIOT! What did you DO?" I was lev-ing way above him now, my hands glowing bright white with Psy-energy.   
p"Well...i thought if i mixed the repel formula with some soy sauce..."  
pI groaned. He had to be the stupidest operative Team Rocket had. EVERYONE knew Soy Sauce attracted pokemon, no matter WHAT it was mixed with.  
pI probobly would have blasted him with enough Psy-energy to send him over the horizon...but the town was rapidly becoming covered in Magikarp. I decided to get out of there, and i couldn't leave another Team Rocket operative to get caught. The last thing i needed was Jenny on my tail. I levetated Kojiro into the air. He looked really confused to be floating up, but that wasn't my problem for now. I Teleported us to the tunnel, which was far enough away that the Karp hadn't gotten here yet.   
pI pointed down the length of the tunnel so Kojiro would have no reason to say he was lost. "Run. That way."  
pHe ran. I followed, because i didn't want to be covered in slimy Magikarp. This was a majorly stupid problem, i decided.   
p  
pbPart Eight- a really short part./b  
p  
pBill's house was locked. Nice work, Billy, i thought as a snapped the lock in half with a little tweak from my Psy-energy. The door opened without protest.  
pThe house was weird. There wasn't a bed or a desk or anything normal. All there was was a computer, and this weird machine. Well, what it did certainly wasn't a mystery because there was a huge sign on it that read "Pokemon DNA Spliceing Device." That was curious.  
pI decided to look up a bit on that machine in Bill's computer. Flipping off the Flying Pokeball screensaver, i dug into the files. A log would be in a simple text type document...so that's where i searched.   
pBill wasn't to bright, i guess. He named the file "Experiment Log" which was kind of simple to find, seeing as it was straight there on the desktop. I flipped through the file. It read easy, i guess Bill wasn't that old.  
p"Log 78: I just got back from my vacation on Cinnibar Island. The Lab there is amazing! They're testing pokemon DNA splicing techniques. I only hope to emulate them now. I do not have the plans for their machines, but i believe mine has come close. I'm hopeful! -Bill"  
pHmmm...interesting. I looked over my shoulder. Oh, good. Kojiro was still here. I ran at him, and shoved him into the first machine compartment. The panal slid shut on him, despite his banging on the thing. I grinned, and regarded the pokemon at my waist. I figured that all the weirdness of the pokemon wasn't genetic, so any one of them would be okay. I threw Nidoran's pokeball into the other compartment and watched as the door slid down.  
p"Nidoran, come out!" i commanded. It took a second, but soon both compartments had scraping and whining noises coming from them. Aright, good enough.   
pI went back to the computer and ran the program there called "Cell Merger." The machine pinged and zinged and zapped...and the doors opened.  
pOnly one person stepped out. It had Kojiro's boy shape, but definitly wasn't the normal old Kojiro. Whatever it was, it had large Nidoran ears, and spikes running all down its back. Its hands, too, had small claws. I grinned, this was deffinitly something. Nidojiro turned and looked at me.   
p"I wish you hadn't done that." he said.  
pI grinned only halfway. "Heh." Screw what he wished. At least now i knew something. Bill had been on Cinnibar at some point, and they'd been experimenting with DNA spliceing there long before my sister and I had been created. "Okay, Nidojiro. I'll splice you back. Get into the tube."  
pIn no situation to disagree, the mutant returned to the first tube. I proceeded to run the "Cell Seperator" program. Bill was sure direct in his computer lingo.   
pThe machine binged once, and the tubes opened again. Nidoran and Kojiro stepped out, both of them pretty loopy. I recalled Nidoran to his pokeball and watched Kojiro walk straight into a wall. Well, he wasn't too bright but he came in useful at least then.  
pHitting the wall must have brought Kojiro back around, because he started complaining. "Why did you do that?"  
pI shrugged. "I'm not Human, so the machine wouldn't work on me. I figured you wouldn't protest too much, considering it's obvious i could get you back to normal."  
p"Oh." He came over and looked at the computer. I pushed him aside and started messing with his own program connection to the Cinnibar Lab files. The access got banged up about fifteen degrees, which should be enough for me to find what i wanted. I hunted around for anything unusual.  
pAh, good. Something simple. The year of the kidnapping rash, about five people had been brought to the lab. The year after that, three were discharged. The files didn't tell about their wereabouts, but they'd been dropped in three different cities.   
PI closed out of the computer and sighed. "I wonder what happened to those kids," i said.  
PKojiro didn't seem to know what i was talking about. Well, he didn't need to.   
pI guess the best way to find them is to hunt around for unusual people. Let's see..." I pulled out the specially made Team Rocket pokedex. It was just plain white, but thanks to lots of research with Dittos, it could conform to any shape or colour. No one needed to know i had it. I flipped it open.   
p"J.C.N., search out any kind of rumor on pokemon-people. Hunt out alien lover websites in this search too, they might tie in."  
p"Okey-day, Mantis." J.C.N. flashed a lot of weird colours on its screen and binged up with a map. It showed almost all the cities. I gritted my teeth, perturbed. "Manti-sama this is all i got. You want to narrow it down somehow?"  
p"Yeah, run a cross check for any kind of witness sketch. If any look like me, Soshika or Myuutu, scratch that city."  
pJ.C.N. started searching again. Gradually, dots dropped off the map until only Celadon, Lavender and Pewter were left. I grinned. "Nice work, J.C.N.. I'll get you an upgrade next time we're back at the base."  
p"Ooooh thanks a lot! Hey, see if you can get a chip on that little pink bulldog faced monster too, huh? I've been hearing about that thing."  
pI shut the 'dex and tucked it into my belt. Kojiro just stared. I raised an eyebrow. "Weren't you issued one?"  
pHe shook his head dumbly. Aparently the boss had decided not to waste resources. Nice choice.  
p"Oh well, no big loss. Come on, next stop is Celadon."  
p  
  
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	4. Part 4

pbPart nine- Nothing special, just a space filler/b  
p  
p"So, what are we looking for here again?" Kojiro asked for about the nine billionth time. I hated walking. I really hated walking, but i couldn't Teleport and flying took up too much energy and was too conspicous.  
p"YOU'RE only along to act as a distraction. Celadon isn't known for observant people, but i think they're bound to notice a pokeperson walking around. If they see you, they might figure i'm just a plain pokemon and you're my trainer." I looked at the road ahead of us. It seemed really LONG, but that was just because it was all downhill and i was prevented by the surrounding forests from seeing the city i was trying to get to. So what, the walk was sure seeming LONG...especially with Kojiro. His only pokemon, a Koffing, was floating next to him. Why, i didn't know. the thing stank. Not too bad, but it certainly wasn't something i was used to smelling. It was bugging me.   
pSo was Kojiro, but that was something i was going to have to put up with. Plus that, he probobly had a few Poke-bucks on him, so maybe i could get a Thunderstone and whipe that totally bizzare Pikachu's weaknesses away...and have a totally weird Raichu. ANYTHING to loose the yellowness. and the cuteness. It just annoyed me. Not to the point where i'd kill the thing, as Hellcat -my sister's Fire evolution- had done, but i sure wasn't gonna put up with it for an obcene amount of time.  
pKojiro sighed and folded his hands behind his head, looking sidelong at Koffing as if to complain about me. "Okay, so why are YOU here?"  
pI looked at the peice of newspaper in my hand that talked about kidnappings. Was one of those kids my sister? Or part of me for that matter? What had happened to them out on that island...were they even remotely Human anymore? "I'm going hunting for lost souls. Coming with or not?"  
pKojiro jumped. "GHOSTS??"  
pI spun around and hit him with my tail. Hard. He fell down and his face went a few inches into the dirt. "NO not GHOSTS!! PEOPLE!! People who've been changed, like you were when i shoved Nidorabid and you into the DNA splicer."  
pKojiro said something, but he was stuck in the dirt. Koffing just floated nearby and said the only thing he could. "Koffiiiiiing?"  
pI grinned at the pokemon. "That's right, pokepeople." I levetated Kojiro out of the dirt, turned him upside down and dropped him.   
p"EYOOOWOHOOWOW!" He yelled as he fell towards teh ground. I kept walking. Koffing started to follow me. At least i understood Koffing, if not his trainer.  
p::So, you're hunting for more people who've been messed up like you. Why are they here, do you think?::  
pI shrugged. "Not sure, but i figure that if people can't explain something right away, the chalk it up as freaking of nature or as the unexplainable. There've been reports of a pokeperson in this town..but nothing concrete." Pretty vauge, actually. The reports had only mentioned a little bit. Maybe it wasn't interesting enough, or maybe there just wasn't enough to go on. I wasn't sure but i was ready to investigate for sure.  
p::Ah, i see. Hey, is that Celadon?::  
pKojiro ran up next to me and sheilded his eyes, squinting. "Hey, that's Celadon, isn't it?"  
pI just started running. I didn't stop till i got to the city. ANYTHING to distract me from these idiots i was traveling with.  
p  
pbPart Ten- Kyotoshi: Growlithe&Meowth/b  
p  
p"Scuse me, scuse me? Hello? Yeah, Freak boy! I'm talkin ta you!" The kid i was yelling at realized it was him i was talking to and turned around. I figured he had some time to talk, all he was doing was walking up and down the street. He saw Kojiro and i in our Team Rocket uniforms and froze. I grinned somewhat evilly. Heh. It helped to be intimitateing in your home town.  
P"Uuuuh Yes ma'am i mean Sir and Ma'am...uhhhh i mean...What?"  
pProbobly a kid whose only knowledge of pokemon came from TV cartoons. Oh well, screw him. "Get your tuckass moving down to the game corner. Tell the first TR member you meet that Mantis is requsting access to all the civilian buildings. Also i want to talk to some regulars. Got it? Good. Get moving."  
pThe kid nodded and ran. While Celadon housed a major base of operations for us, our REAL base was hidden nicely underwater nearabouts the route from Lavender to Cinnibar. Close to Seafoam, actually. Still, we were a major name around here.   
pWell, that should keep anyone from panicking about espionage. I decided to head towards the department store. When you were buying something, the clerks were usally quite helpful and quite willing to talk about local gossip.   
pThe lady at the counter looked up and grinned cheerfully. "Hi there! Please use the directory to your left to find your way around!"  
pKoffing floated to the directory and looked at it. ::OOoooooooh lookie! Wiseman Gifts! Hey James, can i get a rare candy? Please? Pretty please?::  
pI gritted my teeth before Kojiro could ask the same question. "Kojiro, get that thing back in its pokeball before he sets off a smoke detector."  
pKojiro looked rather upset about recalling Koffing, and so did the pokemon at that..but there was no sense dragging the fire company into this. I really did NOT feel like being Hydro Pumped by a bunch of Blastoises at this point.   
pI motioned for Kojiro to follow me. "C'mon. Wiseman Gifts sounds like a good place to start. Got any Pokebucks?"  
pKojiro checked his pockets and seemed rathers surprised to find them empty. I moaned. His one potential use had just vaporized.   
p"Nevermind. I have enough to get what i need."  
pWiseman gifts was on the fourth floor, but we found it easy enough. I had a Thunderstone and two Rare Candies laid out on the table and was paying while at the same time milking the unsuspecting "Wise Man" for info.  
p"So, you say there's this cat-kid who lives around here, huh?"  
pThe clerk nodded and bagged my Rare Candies in a little striped paper bag. I don't know why, perhaps he just liked wrapping them up nicely. Kojiro was busy examining toys. Simple pleasures for simple minds, i figured. "Oh, yeah." Said the clerk. "Well, he isn't really a cat-kid. He just kind of reminds you of a cat. A dog too, maybe. He's definitly a little weird."  
pI examined the Thunderstone in my hand. It was good quality. The surface was polished and glowed a pretty clear yellow. It somewhat reminded me of frozen lemonade. The shape was jagged, just like you'd expect crytalized lightning to be. A tiny lightning bold was carved into the middle. It was also pretty expensive just to get rid of a pikachu. Oh well, all progress was priced. "So, how do you know so much about him?" i asked casually.  
p"Oh, he comes in here at least twice a day usually. Buys a lot of Rare Candies."  
p"Must cost a friggin poke-bank," i said aloud. What pokemon did he have that he was raising with Rare Candies? Or was he upping his own skill level? If indeed he was a pokeperson, that was.   
pThe clerk shrugged and wrapped my Element stone in matching yellow tissue paper and put it in a little bag with pokeballs stamped on it. "I would think so. That's 2,300 Pokebucks, ma'am."  
pDespite what the number was, that really wasn't all that much. I paid the clerk and took my stuff. "Thanks. So, how would you say he gets money enought to do that?"  
p"Well," the clerk rubbed his chin. "He's either a super pokemon trainer...or he's playing the slots. Take your pick."  
pI nodded thanks again, and left, grabbing Kojiro's arm on the way out and dragging him into the elevator with me. "We're going to the game corner."  
pKojiro grinned. "We are? Cool! Can i play the slots?"  
p I hit him with the bag that contained the Element stone. "You don't have any money."  
p"Oh, yeah."  
ppWe arrived at the game corner a few minutes later. People were mechnicly pushing the levers on their slot machines, waiting for the things to barf out coins so they could exhange them. It was nuts. I didn't like it much at all. I looked around, but didn't see anyone who remined me remotely of a cat or a dog. A few weasels and vultures..but no dogs or cats. I asked the lady at the coin exchange desk.   
p"Hey, is there a guy who comes in here who looks..oh..kinda like a cat?"  
p She smiled. What WAS it with these people and smiles?? "Oh, certainly. He's a regular in here most days. Unfortunately, i don't think i've seen him since last week."  
p"Why? What happened then?"  
p"Oh, he had an extremely bad luck day. Came out totally broke. I haven't seen him since. It's a common story around here."  
pI scowled. "Where would he be, do you think?"  
p"Possably down the street at the cafe, but i'm not sure. He might have left town."  
pI hoped not, but i grabbed Kojiro from where he was scroungeing for coins and ran to the cafe.   
pIt was a tiny place, but kind of nice. It smelled like scones for some reason, and people seemed to be eating bagels and drinking coffee. One of the kids at the counter saw me and Kojiro enter and glanced sideways down the cafe bar, as if to direct us there without speaking. I took the advice and walked slowly down to the last seat at the bar that was open. Sitting against the wall was definitly someone who wasn't normal.  
pFirst off, he was wearing a fedora indoors. I didn't know why, but he was. His hair was striped through with red and gold, which gave him a rather weird look. His skin, too, was rather cream-coloured, not pinkish like most humans. Weird shadows formed on his face and hands in reddish browns. His eyes were closed, and he seemed to be completely unaware of the world around him.  
pKojiro was teh first one to initate contact. "Hello, are you a genetic mutant from Cinnibar Island?"  
pI wanted to hit him. I wanted to, but i didn't, because it might do harm to open up with a hostile move. Besides, the weird person didn't react at all. He didn't even open his eyes.   
pI leaned over and looked him in the face. "Hello?"  
pStill no reaction. Kojiro yelled at him. "HEY! We've had to run from a tsunami of Magikarp in Vermillion, i've been turned into a mutant and teleported and beaten up a million times over...The least bit of courtisy you can show towards me for that is to say hello!" He folded his arms and turned to the side, as if he'd won. The weird person did nothing.  
pI tapped him on the shoulder. "Excuse me, but, ah...i'd like to have a word with you."  
pThe weird person turned and looked at me. His eyes were cat-slit and white, like a Meowth's. "What?" he asked. "Hold on a minute." he raised his hands to his head and pulled two tiny speakers from under his hat. "Sorry, what did you say?"  
pAh. He was listening to a stereo system. Okay, good reason. "I said i'd like to have a word with you."  
pHe looked around the room and off into space and basicly at anything but me and Kojiro. "About what?"  
p"You. Your past. See, i think we may have a small link between the both of us..."  
pUnexpectantly, the weird being stood up and left. "I ain't got no past." he said over his shoulder.   
pKojiro and i gave eachother looks. "You stay here and see what you can find out about him," i told the human. "I'm chasing him down."  
p"You can count on me!" Kojiro saluted...this could be bad, i thought, but it wasn't my primary worry.   
pI followed the weird person onto the street, where he was walking towards the hotel with his hands in his pockets. I paced him by levetateing. He stopped, seeing he couldn't outrun me. Good choice for him.  
pHe glared at me before putting on a pair of shades. Good choice, but it made him look like a mafia member with that crazy fedora. "Look, what do you want with me?"  
p"I think for now i'll settle with knowing your name." I folded my arms. "Mine's Mantis."  
pHe seemed distrusting and gave his name like it was potentially dangerous to him. "Kyotoshi."  
p"Who gave you that name?"  
pHe pushed past me. "None of your damn buissness."  
pOkay, this wasn't working out like i wanted it to. Oh well, time to change tactics. Aparently Kyotoshi wasn't going to trust me right off the bat. "So where are you going, hmm? You have no money. Why are you headed towards the hotel? you don't live there."  
pHe spun around, the long sandy coloured jacket he was wearing swung out behind him. He was dressed entirely in sand and earth colours, which was a little bizzare. "What do you care?"  
p"A little," i decided to play his game. "Enough to say that you'd like to have one of these two Rare Candies i have...for whatever reason that is."  
pA visably shiver shook Kyotoshi. He took off the shades and i could see his eyes were shaking, like i'd just said he'd won a lottery. "Okay...I'm listening. What do i have to do? Within reason, okay. I ain't sinkin' down to weird levels here."  
pI tossed the little paper bag up and down in my hands. "You don't have to do anything."  
pHis eyebrow went up. Kyotoshi wasn't stupid, that was for sure. "You're shittin me."  
p"More or less, yeah. I have a lot of questions. Most of them you won't answer right now. So if you come with us-"  
p"Who's 'us'?" he demanded.  
p I motioned over my shoulder. "that blue-haired kid back there. Kojiro. No one else."  
He relaxed visably. I continued. "You travel with us. What have you got to loose? You haven't got any money right now anyway. No place to live, am i right? At least there's safety in numbers."  
pHe nodded, replaceing the shades. "Okay, you got a deal." he held out a hand. "Now hand over the Candies."  
pI withdrew the bag, took only one out and levetated it to him. "You'll get one now. Just to be sure you're not gonna ditch us first chance. You'll get the other one later, after you've gotten a little more coperative."  
pKyotoshi looked a little let down, but pocketed the candy and nodded. "Fine."  
pGood. That was one of us down. Now i needed to get Kojiro and head towards Mt. Moon.  
p  
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	5. Part 5

pbPart Eleven- Shortcut through the woods/b  
p  
pKojiro had gassed the whole Cafe, i came out coughing holding him by the collar. "What the hell were you trying to do?"  
pKojiro protested rather well. "They wouldn't talk! All they said was that he was a regular. Nothing else."  
pThey probobly didn't KNOW anything else, but at least the excuse didn't stink as bad as the whole cafe. "Well, okay then. We're heading out. Leaping the fence between here and Viridan forest. the shortcut should take us straight to Pewter."  
pKojiro nodded. "Is that weird cat-man coming?"  
p"Name's Kyotoshi," said Kyotoshi, slipping up quietly behind me. "And yes, i'm comin'. Got a problem with that?"  
pKojiro rapidly shook his head. Oh, good, i figured. They'd already established a pecking system.  
pAn hour later we were well into the forest. While we were walking, i explained to Kyotoshi -who i'd decided to call Kyo for short- about the whole quest and how it had gotten started.   
pHe nodded. "Aren't you going to tell us anything about you?" I asked. You never could tell when someone would be willing to talk, that was for sure.   
pKyo shrugged. "Why the hell not? What's there to know anyway, right? I woke up in Celadon one day in the hotel, couldn't remember anything. I only knew a few things about what could pass as my past. I'd been changed, cause i'd used to see a human in my reflection. I knew i was a freak..."  
pI snorted, interupting him. He looked at me strangely. I motioned to myself, glowing yellow arm and all. "You think you're a freak? Buster, at least you're human enough to get a pokemon license."  
pHe shrugged again. "I ain't human anymore. See, i knew nothing about what the hell my past was. Do you know how hard it is to get a job when you don't even know who your MOM is? i had about fifteen pokebucks. Slots were the only way to get an income...you know the rest."  
pI nodded. "Good point. And take that stupid hat and specs off. We're not in a city." i Psy-blasted the fedora and glasses right off him, and gasped when i did. He glared.   
p"Reeeeeal happy now, eh Mantis? You wanted to see what kind of a god-damn freak i am, well have a nice look-see."  
pHe had Meowth ears, but in red and gold, like his hair. They stuck up above his head and moved like my sister's did, but none of the movements from Kyo's ears were cheerful. He turned around and stormed off into the forest, but didn't go very far. I heard a deadened ithump/i and followed it.  
pKyo was punching a tree with enough force to splinter the wood, and his hands were bleeding now. His ears were backed and tears were coming down his cheeks and staining his skin. I levetated a few feet off the ground nearby and watched him. After a few minutes, the Pokeperson broke down and sat against the tree, crying into his hands.   
p"Do you know what the hell i am, even?" he asked aloud. Tears were still streaking down his face, but his eyes were closed. "Where the hell i came from? I ain't human, i ain't a pokemon...what the hell am i?"  
pI levetated a little closer. "We all have that question at some point. You just have to accept that you are what you are." i shrugged.  
p"Then..Then.." He was sniffling. I realized that despite all his tough attitudes and street-smart talk, Kyotoshi was still just the little kid who'd been kidnapped. "Why where you so damn surprised to see my ears?" His voice was halting, he was taking quick breaths to stop the crying. "Can't damn well accept that people are damn frightened of me, can i?"  
p"I wasn't frightened," I told him truthfully, trying to send some calming Psy-waves towards Kyo. Poor kid needed them. "I just didn't expect to see Meowth ears on you. Believe me, my sister's ears are worse. They're bigger, and yellow. iAnd/i she has fur too. Come on, you seriously believe i was scared?"  
pKyotoshi laughed quietly, the sound was even more sad then his crying. It hurt like a stake in my chest. "You know..how damn hard it is to live with myself? I mean, Growlithe and Meowth...dog and cat, right? Mortal enemies, duel to the death and all that shit...it's a little hard to keep a normal life when you hate yourself." He sniffed, and whiped his nose on his sleeve. "the Candies work like a mini evolution. They zap me into a new mind for a minute, like a computer whiping clean for an upgrade. You can forget that way...forget what you used to be..." Kyotoshi fell silent.  
p"If it makes any difference," I offered, "The guys who did this to you are dead."  
pKyo sniffed and smiled slightly. "It don't matter. the person they did it to is dead too."  
pI shook my head. There wasn't much else i could do.  
pKyotoshi took in another deep breath of air, finishing up with his cry. "It'd be just kinda nice," he wished aloud, "if i could find my real mom or dad again. And that they'd look at me and they wouldn't care about this..this.." he motioned to himself, "damn change thing...or these damn ears or the eyes or anything...like they'd just say they're glad to see me home." He sniffed and fell silent a minute. "But that ain't gonna happen," he said aloud. "I don't even know 'em...and if i did, they wouldn't know me."  
pI sighed. i felt severly sorry for him, but there was nothing i could do. I couldn't change the past, i couldn't splice him apart like i'd done to Kojiro. He was three, the machine only could do two. "At any rate, i think we should be setting up camp. It's going to be dark soon, and you should get some sleep. You don't look like you've slept in a long while."  
pKyo shrugged. "Pretty sharp," he sighed. "What about that blue-haired kid? Ain't you gonna look for him?"  
pI grinned evilly and winked at the pokeperson. "As soon as i start cooking dinner, he'll show up.  
p  
pbPart Twelve- J.C.N.'s lullaby/b  
p  
pIt was pitch black, but i glowed like a soft neon night-light over the entire camp. my sleeping bag was rolled out next to a tree and i sat on it looking through the newpaper clippings for the one millionth time, wondering if i ought to tell Kyotoshi about them, see if he could figure out which one he was. J.C.N. lay open on my lap, carefully recording the clippings for future refrence, if they ever got lost.   
pKojiro snored a few feet away, tucked into one of the extra sleeping bags Skunk had given me and snuggling a Koffing pokedoll he'd gotten goddess knows where. Maybe he'd stolen it from Wiseman Gifts, i wasn't sure.   
pKyotoshi slept soundly across the clearing from me, also in one of the extra sleeping rolls, but he slept on top of the bed and not inside. The GrowlMeowperson had cried in his sleep too, tossing and turning like he was in a nightmare. Eventually, though, he fell silent and was now sleeping quietly. I picked up J.C.N. and pointed her at Kyo.   
p"Start recording data on pokepeople, J.C.N. This is Kyotoshi, a mix between Meowth, Growlithe and a human. What can you tell me?"  
pJ.C.N. pinged. "Well, Manti-sama, besides the fact he's pretty sexy..."  
p"Hey, shut up and do like i asked, okay?" I whispered harshly. I didn't want to wake anyone.  
p"Yeesh, whipe my memory whydoncha? Okay let's see. Pokeperson number Oh-oh-three. Name is Kyotoshi, Type One is Normal, Type Two is fire."  
p"Yo, this is a documentary of him, not a pokedex entry, okay? Goddess..."  
p"You let me do my job and i'll let you do yours. Okay he's about six one. Can't tell the weight yet, i'll leave that as unknown. Okay, Manti-sama. What do you know about him?"  
p I took a deep breath and whispered to the machine. "He was one of the five kids kidnapped as a toddler. His genetic mother and father are unknown to him, and his gentic doners too aren't known for sure. He's been shifted to this shape, probobly from an injection or highly sophisticated spliceing machine. He was found in Celadon, his memory was whiped clean of his time on Cinnabar. He's showing mental trauma from the pokemon splicing, and also no maturity from the time he was kidnapped as far as the mental situation spans. Phsyical growth is normal. He's got normal human skin, save for Growlithe-like colouring and stripes. His hair's also Growlithe coloured. He's got Meowth ears and eyes as well, and shows the usual tough-guy attitude male Meowths get."  
p"Hmmm that's it? that isn't much.."J.C.N. began to type up a screen of information, as well as a picture of Kyotoshi. I tapped the 'dex on my knee.   
p"J.C.N., what can you tell me about the pokemon end of things? I doubt he's fought since Cinnabar, but he probobly still has attacks."  
p"Right again, Manti-sama. He's got some good ones too. Fire Blast, Ember, Mega Punch and Swift. He's also at level fifty-six."  
pMust be all those Rare Candies, i thought. Kyo was far more powerful then he knew. "Can you figure his actual age in Human years?"  
pJ.C.N. binged and ran a pink light over Kyotoshi. "Sure thing. Looks to be about eighteen."  
p"Skunk's age," i narrowed my eyes and thought of that. The times for when he'd been kidnapped and when he'd been discharged didn't match in psysical age. Something had excelerated his growth. Weird.  
pThe pink light hit Kyo's eyes again and he stirred, waking up. "Mantis? What the hell are you doing?"  
p"Making a 'dex on pokepeople like you and me, Kyo. Don't worry about it." I set J.C.N. aside and climbed into my sleeping roll. The light in the area instantly dimmed. It was silent for a while, then Kyotoshi spoke up again.   
p"I can't sleep again, damn it. Once i'm awake i'm awake for good." he sighed, aggrivated.   
pIf i had had my Jigglypuff or Clefairy i could have had them Sing him to sleep, but i didn't. I tapped J.C.N. on the casing. "J.C.N., can you sing a lullaby?"  
pThe pokedex dinged at me. "I think so. To who?"  
pKyotoshi looked at me skepticly. "You're shittin me, right?"  
p"Not at all." i returned my attention to the pokedex. "Kyotoshi. Think you can do it?"  
p"Sure thing, Manti-sama. I can calculate it up like the Jigglypuff song and all."  
p"Good. Do it."  
p"Okey-day," said J.C.N....and she started to sing.  
pcenteruJ.C.N.'s Lullaby/ubrCast away from the shores of this world,brSet sail for lands away from herebrForign and lost, brYou're no stranger there.brPeople there to see you, brYou see them in your dreamsbrIn shadows in reflectionsbrRipples of what used to be.brCome gaze into the skybrAt crimsion birds skimming bybrRed like the sunset painted in blood, brGrim parodies of memories you don't own anymore.brDid you ever look so much like them?brHere you're the same all over againbrCast away, sail the wishes,brWish you could go there in your sleep,brYour soul is safe, here we keep itbrBeside your dreamsbrIn jars of silverbrVisit the worlds you lostbrWhen you were traveling realitybrYour memories are safe with me.p  
/centerAnd, despite what the world had done to Kyotoshi in the past, he slept soundly this time. No more nightmares haunted him.  
  
p  
pbPart Thirteen- WHOSE dad is that??/b  
p  
pI awoke when something started to bounce on top of me. Doubting it was Kojiro or Kyotoshi, and hoping it wasn't, i chanced a look. A old, graying Meowth bounced Kojiro's pokedoll around, infatuated with its round shape. I groaned and pulled the sleeping roll over my head. Just my luck, there would be a wild pokemon hanging around camp and going through our stuff.   
pKeeping with the already hard-luck mood of my morning, the Meowth was singing while it played. I gritted my teeth and debated Psy-blasting it into oblivion. But i didn't want to kill the thing, and besides, Meowths were good conversationalists. Maybe when i was ready to get up i'd try to catch it.   
p::La lalala laaaaa!:: sang the Meowth, ::Got yer tape and it changed my mind, heard yer voice in between the lines. Come around from another time, where nobody ever goes...::  
pOkay, that was it. It was too early in the morning for a Meowth who was a Semisonic fan to be singing and running around on my bed. I sat up and yelled at it. "Would you PLEASE keep it down? We're trying to SLEEP!"  
pThe Meowth jumped back, yelling, frightened. I growled at it and lay back down, hoping it would go away. Unfortunately for me, it didn't. The Meowth padded over to where my head was and looked me in the face.   
p::Mantis? Mantis, is that you? Oh, wow! Hey, how's your sister doing?::  
pI sat up tiredly, like the damn Meowth mattered any. But it knew my name, that was something. "Do i know you?"  
pThe Meowth sat on my knees and polished the coin on its head with a paw. ::Well, i admit it's been a while, but you ought to remember me! I remember you.::  
p"Who are you?"  
pKyotoshi threw part of the sleeping roll over his head and spoke sleepily from underneith it, i guess we'd woken him up. "Can you keep it down? I'm tryin' to get some damn sleep here."  
p::Kyo? That you? Hey, how've you been?:: The Meowth got up and ran across the way to sit on Kyo's head. ::Hey, get up! C'mon it's nearly dawn anyway. Get out of that bed.:: The Meowth hit the back of Kyo's head with his paw, then kicked him for good measure.   
pKyotoshi was up within the minute. He knocked the Meowth off and glared at it, rubbing the back of his head. "What the hell was that? I'll sleep as late as i damn well please, furball!"  
pI must have looked visably shocked because both Kyotoshi and the Meowth turned to look at me.  
p"What?" Kyo asked.   
p::What?:: asked the Meowth.   
p"Kyo, you understand him?" I pointed towards the Meowth. "I thought all attempts to get Human DNA to communicate with Pokemon DNA failed."  
pKyotoshi rubbed the back of his neck and sat down again, backing his ears and rolling his eyes. "Shows what the hell you know."  
pThe Meowth waggled a finger. ::Hey, let's not get rude. Some attempts worked, some didn't.::  
p"Yeah uh huh ain't that interesting. Listen, why don't you shut the hell up and let me get back to sleep?" Kyotoshi flopped back onto his sleeping roll and put the pillow back over his head.   
pThe Meowth still stood on his sleeping roll, but it turned in the opposite direction of Kyo and put its nose in the air. ::Hrmph! That's no way to talk to your dad.::  
pI was still shocked. "His iDad/i?"  
pThe Meowth looked sidelong at me. ::Yours too, don't be so surprised. You're all part Meowth of course.::  
pKyotoshi threw the pillow off his head and glared. "That ain't funny. I ain't got no parents, not anymore. Not after i got turned into this damn freak thing."  
pThe Meowth shrugged. ::Okay, granted i'm not your biological dad, but i donated the DNA for both of you. So you're wrong. I am your parent in a way. C'mere, gimme a hug!:: The Meowth ran at Kyotoshi, who met it with a pillow to the face halfway.   
pI grinned slightly. "Bit grouchy this morning, Kyotoshi?"  
pKyo just grunted and lay back down. The Meowth, having learned its temporary lesson, retreated to my sleeping roll where it sat. ::Hrmph. He certainly didn't used to be this disagreeable.::  
p"Times change people, Meowth," I told the graying pokemon. "Kyotoshi thinks he lost a lot when he was changed. What, i'm not sure. They whiped his memory when he was taken from Cinnibar."  
p::Oh, naturally. Your memory was whiped from the time you and Soshika went out in the boat to meet with...well, that's not something you should know yet. Anyway, it lasts depending upon how human the subject still is.::  
pHmm..that was interesting. Soshika and i might eventually remember things we'd been forced to forget. Kyotoshi on the other hand was almost completely Human still. He might never remember. That would be a pretty savage punishment for someone who had done nothing. "Do you know why Kyotoshi and the three others were taken off Cinnibar?"  
pThe Meowth nodded, licked a paw and washed its fur. ::Yeah. You see, he's already having trouble dealing with the mixed pokemon DNA, especially because the two monsters used are enemies. It wasn't doing the Proffesers any good to have a depressed test subject. Everyone knows if you keep a depressed animal in captivity, it dies.::  
pThey'd treated Kyotoshi like just an animal, then. Released him back into the world with hopes he'd survive. "What about the others? And are you their parent too?"  
pThe Meowth grinned. ::You're my litter of little kitties, more or less. There are still two i don't know what happened too, though. I was released a few years ago, see? When i reached retirement age..::  
p"Interesting, but what about the others? Do you know why they were let out?"  
p::Probobly the same reason as Kyotoshi, but of course if they were a bit of a handful like you and your sister had been, the Profs. might have been forced to release them for their own safety.::  
p"Smart." I nodded, regarding Kyo who was back to sleep again. "Meowth, would you come with us on our search? My sister is loosing her memory, i'm looking for people and things to rebuild it. You'd be a big help."  
pThe Meowth jumped up and struck a heroic pose. ::Anything to save one of my Kits! Count me in, I'll do my best.::  
pI shook the Meowth's paw, and it gave me a hug. "Thanks a lot, Meowth."  
p::Please,:: The Meowth grinned toothily. ::Call me dad.::  
  
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	6. Part 6

pbPart Fourteen- Dad's Wish/b  
p  
PWe hit Viridian forest quickly, once Kojiro and Kyotoshi woke up. Dad rode on my soulder the majority of the way, seeing as he was too small to walk the whole thing on his own. We kept entertained by listening to Dad's stories about Cinnibar and watching Kojiro smash into trees, so the walk didn't seem as long as most walks do. Kyotoshi kept silent the entire walk, having abandoned his fedora and sunglasses a while back. Kojiro, for some reason, didn't notice Kyo's ears. Maybe it was just his idiocy.   
pWe entered into Viridain around noon, and startled a bug catcher who was hanging out there.   
p"Ho-ho-holy Zapdos! What are you guys??" the kid seemed a little startled. Kyo didn't mind this time around. In fact, he smiled slightly, showing Meowth-like incisors.   
pKojiro was on top of the ball this time. "We're Team Rocket! So prepare for trouble, you little runt! Koffing, go!"  
p::Yeeeeeeeehaaaa!! Let's whoop some bug!:: yelled Koffing.   
p::Show that kid who's boss!:: Dad cheered, shaking a paw in the air.   
pLeave it to Kojiro to drag out a battle. I stopped him before he could order an attack. "Hey, if you send posion against posion we'll be out here all day. Recall Koffing, i've got a better idea."  
pKojiro seemed a little confused and even a little upset, but he did like i asked. I looked at Dad, who was perched on my shoulder. "Think you can take out a few catapillers?"  
pDad flexed his claws. ::No sweat. Check this!:: Leaping from my shoulder, Dad stood in the middle of the path looking as ferocious as he could. The Bug catcher sent out a Weedle, and tried to posion sting Dad.  
pThe Meowth winced a little from the attack, but seemed just fine. ::That was your best attack? My turn! BANZAI!!!::  
pDad launched himself into the air and came down on the poor Weedle with a double Scratch attack that knocked it out right away. The Bug catcher seemed only a little fazzed.   
p"You guys are good. Okay, try on this for size. Venomoth, go!"  
pDad leapt back to allow room for the much bigger Venomoth, but didn't look scared. ::That's your best? Ha! Fury Swipes!::   
p"Venomoth, Psybeam!"  
pDad got hit hard, and fell back in mid-air. I growled and clenched a fist. NO ONE subbed a friend of mine and got away with it. I knew Venomoth couldn't hold up against PikaFreak. That is, if i could keep him from seducing the moth. I threw Pikafreak's pokeball onto the ground, and out hopped the little yellow rodent.  
p::Pi-ka...:: the pikachu eyed the Venomoth up and down and it hesitated a minute.   
p"Pikafreak! Don't just stand there seducing it!! Thundershock!" i knew that attack, at least.   
pPikafreak seemed upset i wasn't letting it seduce the Venomoth, but charged up and zapped the dumb bug into oblivion. The Bug catcher looked shocked, turned and ran in the direction his Venomoth had gone.   
pKyotoshi folded his arms and grinned somewhat evilly. "Heh."  
pDad sat up, somewhat dazzed and pumped a fist into the air. ::WAHAHA! That was great! I feel like i'm level fifteen again!::  
pKyo rolled his eyes, and Kojiro just didn't understand at all. I shook my head. "That's nice, Dad."  
p::Say, i got an idea! When we get to Pewter, let's go to the Gym! I'd like to beat up a few trainers.::  
pKyotoshi glared and started walking without the rest of us. I yelled at him.   
p"Hey, Kyotoshi. Knock off with this hermit stuff, okay?"  
p He turned and looked at me angrily. "I'll do what i damn well please, okay?"  
pI levetated towards him and glared. "Not while you're working as a team member. Look, we've been helping you out a lot here. If you keep giving us nothing but crap back, you can leave."  
pI could see it in his eyes that being ditched was the last thing he wanted. He didn't like being alone, but he didn't know how to react to poeple around him. "I gave you your damn information. What the hell else do you want?"  
p::A little cooperation would be nice,:: Dad suggested. ::Kyo, you've got your wishes. You wish you could be back to your original self. Well, sorry, but we can't do that now. You've got your wishes. So do i.::  
pKyo shoved his hands into his pockets and sniffed. "Yeah, what do you wish? Nothing so great, right?"  
pDad jumped onto my shoulder and signaled to start moving. I motioned for Kojiro to follow. ::I wish you could accept what life's handed you for now. It isn't doing you any good living in the shadows of memories.::  
pWe left Kyotoshi behind and continued on the way to Pewter. If he followed or not was his choice at this point. We'd done all we could.  
p  
pbPart Fifteen- Vampire!/b  
p  
PThe Mt. Moon pokecenter was full of lunatics. Kojiro imidiately gravitated towards some guy trying to sell Magikarp in the corner. I wondered how many of the fish he'd be dupped into buying. A Jigglypuff sat in the corner and sang softly to some of the customers. Dad started to doze off until i tapped his nose.   
p::Huh-what?:: He exclaimed sleepily. ::Oh, it's that Jigglypuff. Thanks for waking me, Mantis.::  
p"No problemo, Dad. Hey, would you mind taking a ride through the healing machine?" I motioned to the counter. Like i'd said before, having the people do something for you was a good way to get information.   
p::Sure thing. I haven't been in a pokecenter in ages.::  
pAs Dad took a quick trip through the machine, i seated myself on one of the benches. They were soft and had pokeballs printed on the fabric, a lot like the bag with the yet-unused Thunderstone i carried. A little boy sat on the seat too, and seemed pretty interested in the rocks he was looking at. I figured he went in the caves a lot. Good subject. "Hi there," i greeted him.  
pHe barely looked up. "Hey."  
p"So, you like fossils and stuff, huh? Bet you check out the caves a lot."  
pThat hit the right button. The kid came alive. "Oh, yeah! Did you know you can find Kubuto fossils that are over a million years old in there! That mountain is also where they mine Moon Stones too!"  
pI pretended to be interested. "So it must be pretty dark in there. Don't you get scared with all the Zubats and stuff?"  
P"Nah, i'm used to the Zubats. But something weird has been in there for the past few years. I've never seen it, but some pokemon trainers say it drinks blood and turns into a bat." He fiddled with a rock. "I thought i might have seen it once, but it might have only been a Paras. It's fast, whatever it is. I don't want to meet up with it."  
pI nodded. "I don't blame you. Vampires can be dangerous."  
pHe looked up. "You think that's what it is?"  
pI shrugged, keeping the naive pokemon trainer attitude. "I don't know, but i have to go through there anyway. If there is anything, my pokemon'll handle it."  
p"Good luck then," offered the kid.  
p"Thanks a bunch." Nurse Joy called my name and placed my sister's pokeballs and Dad on the counter. I stood up and picked up the pokeballs, re-clipping them to my belt and allowing dad to leap onto my shoulder.  
p::What'd you find out?:: he asked.   
p"A good lead. There's rumors of a vamp in the caves. Know anything?"   
pDad shook his head. ::Doesn't ring a bell. So far as i know, none of the tests were in seeing how dangerous the kid could be to humans. their objective wasn't something like a vampire, i don't think. Although, they might have used something with Leech Life as a base pokemon. A Zubat maybe.::  
pHmm that made perfect sense. I motioned in Kojiro's direction. "Kojiro, get a move on. We're going."  
p"Arrrrright! I'll be there in one minute!" I didn't want to look. I didn't want to look but i did. Kojiro was carrying a million books on Magikarp, and even a few Karps swiming around inside a tiny fishbowl that was slopping over at the edges. I really didn't want to ask how much he'd paid for that. I had other things to attend too.   
p"Well, guys...let's go hunt us up a Vampire."  
pDad nodded smartly. ::Right!::  
p"Hold..hold on!" Kojiro protested from behind all the Magikarp stuff. "We're hunting for a what? You can't be serious, right?"  
pI took hold of the fishbowl at the top of his pile and dumped all the stuff onto the floor. Kojiro looked shocked. "No, i'm serious about this. You are NOT bringing an inventory of Magickarp stuff into Mt.Moon. Come on."  
p"Hey wait! Wait!" Kojiro had to run to catch up to Dad and i, we were already out the door. "I reeeeeeally don't want to go hunting vampires!"  
pi grabbed hold of his sleeve and started to drag Kojiro. "You're coming."  
p"Nooo! Nooo! Please! Please!" Sobbing for mercy, we dragged Kojiro into Mt. Moon.   
p  
pbPart Sixteen- Jasusi: Zubat&Meowth/b  
p  
pMt. Moon was riddled with mining tunnels and scant lighting, and also a lot of secret passageways dug by Geodudes and other mountain pokemon. In the daytime, the ceilings were covered in Zubats that slept there, but at night the cavern was alive with the flapping of a billion wings. Dad jumped from my shoulder and sniffed the air slightly.   
p::It doesn't smell like anything but pokemon trainers. I think we'll have to wander off the lit paths if we're looking for a vamp.:: he advised.  
pI nodded and turned to Kojiro, who was cowereing behind my tail. "Kojiro," he jumped at my voice. "We're going into the darker tunnels. Keep quiet, because you don't want to get ithem/i," i motioned to the hords of Zubats snoozing above our heads, "upset with you. Got it?"  
pHe shook in his boots totally visably, but nodded an okay and followed me off the trail after Dad. The light rapidly deminished, but i glowed steadily and so we were able to see where we were going. Dad followed his nose, seeking out anything unsual and we trusted to follow. Occasionally, something skittered through the shadows nearby, but nothing came within contact range.   
pAfter walking only a few minutes, the fur on the back of my neck went up. "We're being followed."  
pKojiro looked around nervously. "Huh? Who?"  
pDad spun on his heels with his claws out. ::It's no Human, that's for sure. And it isn't any pokemon I know..:: A second later, he relaxed and retracted his claws. ::It's okay, it's only Kyotoshi.::  
pKyo stepped silently from one of the many shadows. "How did you know it was me?"  
pDad tapped his nose. ::I may be old, but i know one of my own kids when i smell em. Back to say goodbye?::  
pKyotoshi snorted and walked within the circle of light i generated. "Nothing so dramatic." By now, Kojiro was definitly confused by the seemingly one-sided conversation. Kyo scratched the back of his head nervously and gritted his teeth. "Look, i ain't so good at stuff like this, so i figure i'll just say it direct. I ain't leaving. I ain't ready to go back down that road just yet. You're the only family i got now, sort of." He dropped his hand and shrugged. "So, ya know. I'm stayin'."  
pAparently Dad's words had had some impact. Kyo was finally admiting to what he was, in a way, and that the past was just that. The past. ::So you're sorry?:: Dad asked, being weirdly parental.  
pNodding, Kyo put his hands back into his pockets and looked at his shoes. Still a kid, i reconfirmed to myself. He's still just a kid. "Welcome back anyway, Kyo. Glad to see you weren't willing to regress to playing slots." I grinned and patted his shoulder, to which Kyo smiled weakly.   
p"I hate to tell you," Kojiro whispered in what he thought was a secrative way to Kyo, "But you couldn't have picked a worse time to come back. This lunatic is setting us up as VAMPIRE bait!"  
pKyo nodded with raised eyebrows, doubting Kojiro had even a shread of intelligence. "Ain't that something. Well, guess what, blue-hair? Most places-"  
pDad cut off the incoming nasty comment. ::Kyotoshi...:: the Meowth glared angrily.   
pKyo stopped his retaliation to Kojiro's idiocy and mumbled an apology. Dad bounced from the ground to Kyotoshi's shoulder, patted his head, thought better of it and sat on top of Kyo's head.  
p"You gonna ride the whole damn mountain like that?" Kyo growled, glareing upwards as if he could catch a glimpse of the Meowth on his head.  
pDad lounged and patted Kyo's head. ::Sure, if you keep smart-mouthing the entire way. Don't worry, i'm house trained.:: The Pokemon laughed evilly.  
pIntereupting the opening fight, a cheerful high pitched note filled the cavern. "Cleeeeeeee!" it sang.  
pKojiro was the first to locate its owner. "It's a cle...clee...cleeeeeecle.." He pointed, pretty much amazed. "A CLEFAIRY!! If i catch it, i'll be promoted for sure!! Koffing, go!"  
pKyotoshi, Dad and I turned to stop the human too late. "Kojiro, no! No pokemon battles!! You'll wake up the-"  
pToo late. "Kooooooffing!" cried Koffing.  
pThe Clefairy screamed and vwipped its finger back and forth about three times. My skin would have drained if it wasn't already white. Metranome!! This was such a chancey technique too...oh boy.  
pKojiro and Koffing lifted straight off the floor due to the Metranome, and got slammed into a far wall with enough force to knock them both out. The cavern started shaking, the Clefairy showing no signs of halting her attack.   
p::The ceiling!:: cried Dad, leaping of Kyotoshi's head and diving under a rock.   
p"Is it falling?" Kyo and i looked up and were instantly assaulted by a million dive-bombing Zubats. We covered our heads and dove for the same rock Dad had, ducking behind it with him and trying to sheild our eyes.   
p"Shit!" Kyo cursed at nothing in particular, but did so loud enough that it didn't matter. "Thanks a whole damn lot, Kojiro! How the hell we gonna get outta here?"  
p::There's too many to fight,:: admitted Dad, hiding between the both of us. ::I think we're just a little stuck.::  
p"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock!"  
p"VRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Shreiked a Zubat-like voice, interupting our conversation. Through the cloud of panicing Zubat, something really big and greyish blue dropped down in front of us. For a minute, the Zubat cleared the area and we were able to see quite clearly a dark haired, dark skinned and deffinitly part Zubat creature. It turned and hissed in our direction, then took wing and flapped off after the other Zubats.   
pWithin a minute, all the Zubats were gone. We stood up. My mouth was hanging open. "What in the name of Cheeze and Rice was that?"  
pDad shook his head. ::I..i dunno i think it might have been our vampire.::  
pKyo was staring in the direction the mysterious creature had gone. "It..it was a girl."  
pi was tempted to hit him, but Kyo was already pretty beaten up by his enemies to have his friends attack him just yet. "Get your mind out fo the gutter," i growled.  
pDad, too, was staring. ::That wasn't one of mine. I don't remember that one at all.::  
p"Could you maybe be mistaken?"   
pDad shook his head. ::No way, i'd know one of my kids if i smelt them. i told you that.::  
pKyotoshi was shaking his head, confused. "Who the hell was she?"  
p"Her name is Jasusi." said a voice behind us. We turned to see Kojiro waking up and rubbing the back of his head where he'd hit the wall.  
p"How do you know that?" I demanded.   
pKojiro shook his head, looked confused and told me, "She said so."  
p  
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	7. Part 7

pbPart Seventeen- Meet the wild Jasusi.../b  
p  
pBy now i was convinced this entire mission was hexed. Maybe a rabid Jynx had seen me at the HQ and zapped me, but everything was turning out weird. The first person i bump into is an idiot who through pure chance manages to tag along, the next person is a rare candy addict who doesnt' even want to get involved in the whole thing, the third is a Meowth who's battle crazy and now THIS...Kojiro it telepathicly communicating with a pokeperson mutant who is wild as a spearow. It's just nuts! The whole thing!   
pRight, nuts but neccicary. Kojiro had this power, which was nuts too but we needed that pokeperson, so best make due, correct? Oh man..i wish there weren't days like these...  
P"Kojiro, you said she spoke to you in your MIND?" I asked again. i still didn't trust his judgement. C'mon, this was the guy who disguised himself as a bush.  
p"Yeah," Kojiro scratched his head. "I'm sure. I was just lying there, and when i got back up i could hear her."  
pKyo rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything. It was rather interesting to watch iKyo/i interact with Dad's athourity. Kyo bit his mockery and commented. "I don't understand how the hell that works. The bat don't even speak english, how's she communicatin' with ihim/i?"  
p"She's not talking she's sending ipictures/i." defended Kojiro.  
pI shrugged. "Remember, insterpecies communication was something they didn't quite get. This might be another way it works. Don't question how things work if they do." I gave Kyo a stern look, which he ignored.  
p"My point ain't that it's weird. My point's that why the hell Kojiro and not any of us?"  
p::The answer to that should be obvious, even to you, Sparky.:: Dad jumped on Kyo's head and rapped it a few times with his paw. ::Kojiro's the only human here. If Jasusi was communicating in human mode, why would we understand?::  
PKyotoshi growled and balled a fist, glaring upwards. "I'll give you 'Sparky..'"  
p::tsk! careful, Kyo. Anyone who runs battle sims can tell you attacking your friends makes them vanish real quickly.:: Dad waggled a finger.  
pKojiro was getting confused again, being unable to hear Dad's talking. I decided to divert his brain to more useful tasks. "Kojiro, do you think you could convince her we need to talk?"  
pKojiro still looked confused. "I don't know..I think the communicating only goes one way."  
pKyo snorted and laughed. "Heh! Screw that." Cupping his hands to his mouth, he yelled down the corridors. "YO! Jasusi! We gotta talk, us n' you. What d'ya say?"  
pA few Zubats fluttered past us, but no one spoke. Kyo shook his head. No good. We needed another plan. I looked to Dad. "You speak pokemon."  
p::Well, you know, it take practice..not as if it's my natural language or anything.:: the Meowth grinned. Heh. Nice joke.  
p"Jasusi might trust another pokemon. Call her."  
pDad shrugged, walked towards the edge of the corridor and yowled. What he said was closely identical to what Kyo had, but it came out sounding like "MYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWTH!!"  
pA moment later, his call was answered. "CRrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeee...."  
pKojiro shook his head like he was trying to clear it. "She doesn't trust us i don't think."  
pDad nodded and yowled again. "ME-owth!"  
pAgain, we were rewarded with a shriek from Jasusi, and a Zubat came fluttering down teh corridor to hover above us. Dad and Kojiro spoke in unison, even if Kojiro didn't know it. ":She wants us to follow.:"  
pDad waved and the Zubat zoomed off. We chased it. ::We're meeting on her terms,:: Dad explained. ::Where she feels safe. No problem.::  
pThe Zubat lead us to a wide open cave where Jasusi hid somewhere within. we couldn't tell. Dad started up quickly and explained our situation, the entire story. Jasusi remained quiet until the end.  
p"Chreeee."  
p"She says she won't go, i think." Kojiro translated in his odd way. "She still won't trust us."  
pThat pretty much tore it for Kyotoshi. He jumped forward and shook a finger at the general room, yelling. "Look, freak! We've got our own damn problems. You ain't doin no good hidin in here, and we ain't no damn hunters. You can see that, you freak! But if you don't help us out, we sure as hell ain't gonna be too nice about it!"  
pDad crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. Kyo continued, but took a little notice.   
p"Well, i won't anyways. Now you gonna be a help, or hide in here like a friggin idiot?"  
pA dark shape dropped down in front of Kyotoshi quite suddenly. He jumped, but recovered quickly. Jasusi had dark matte coloured skin, and large slit eyes like Kyo's own. Twin tails only about a half a meter long hung behind her, accenting the Zubat in her as did the large, leathery wings springing awkwardly from her arms. A torn dress covered her, but it seemed she only wore it because the wings made it impossable to remove. She was entirely pokemon raised, had slipped into the pokemon mentality. She still retained some of her humanity, though. She stood upright and spoke to Kyotoshi's face, though still in Zubat. "Che chatta chee cee. Kachee creecray."  
pKojiro shook his head again. "owch! She says Kyotoshi sounds very brave and very desprate. She says since he lost his temper, he's not acting so she believes us." He winced. "ooh it hurts when she does that."  
pKyo grit his teeth. "Well next time, damn it, don't jump in front of me like that. I ain't puttin no lives on my damn life that way, for sure."  
pJasusi blinked and cocked her head. "Cree? Darm?"  
pI pulled J.C.N. from my belt and began to record information on Jasusi. "Myu did this to Daemon for a while, Kyo. Mimiced his words. You've repeated 'Damn' enough that she's picking up."  
pDad laughed aloud. ::proves the old theory the first word you learn in another language is a swear word.::  
PI grinned and typed some more. "At any rate, this is useful for the two of us that don't her human-talk and for the human who doesn't ilike/i the human-talk." I cast a sideways glance at Kojiro who was still rubbing his head. "Kyo, you just volonteered to teach her English."  
p"ME??" Kyo pointed to himself with his mouth wide open. "Oh man, no way in hell. I ain't teachin no damn freak english!"  
pWell, he seemed to have a hard enough time speaking it himself but still, she at least understood him somewhat. "What's wrong Kyo? I thought you liked her." I smiled to myself and continued to type in J.C.N.  
pKyo flushed bright red, even redder then the Growlithe skin was already. "Man, no Rare Candy's worth this."  
pJasusi narrowed her eyes and looked intently at all of us. "Damn. Cree. Damn."  
pKojiro winced visably and looked at Jasusi as if she understood him. "PLEASE don't do that!"  
pDad decided to translate and save Kyo some pain. :: They don't speak mindspeak, Jasusi. and it causes the only human here pain. Stick to spoken english for the Human and pokemon for these two.:: he motioned to Kyo and i. :: mostly speak english, because the human gets confused otherwise.::  
pJasusi nodded knowingly. "Cree cree. Damn."  
pKyotoshi covered his face and moaned. "Oh man..do i really gotta teach her english?"  
pOne thing you had to say to Jasusi's credit was that she mimiced well, and really fast too. She looked at Kyotoshi with an obviously mocking grin and chuckled. "Man," she grinned. "Chee. Damn."  
p  
pbPart Eighteen- Rare Candies  
p/b  
P"CREEEEE!!!" Jasusi fell down on her knees and covered her head with her wings, screaming in pain. Kyotoshi and Kojiro bent to help her, i made a note in J.C.N. I hadn't considered it, but it was obvious now. Jasusi had spent several years in complete darkness, leaving only at night with the other Zubats. her eyes where hypersensitive to light, and taking her out of the caves and into broad daylight was a little painful. Kojiro too, looked like he was in pain. Jasusi was probobly sending mindspeach out in her pain.   
p"You okay?" Kyotoshi asked, holding the shaking pokeperson up.   
pJasusi removed a wing from her eyes for a moment, they were tearing badly as she squinted in the light. "DAMN!" she shrieked aloud and flung the wing back over them.  
pDad jumped onto Kyo's shoulder, reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out Kyo's sunglasses. ::I think you better teach her how to use these, too.:: the Meowth decided.   
pKyotoshi nodded and did his best. "Hey, Jasi, look." Jasusi looked at him from under her wing, still in a lot of pain. Kyo took the opertunity and slipped the shades quickly onto her. Jasusi blinked once, realized it didn't hurt anymore and reached a hand to gingerly touch the sunglasses.   
p"Man," she murmered. She turned to Kojiro, who was now panting as if releived and grinned hugely. "Hey! Hey! Look okree!"  
pDad laughed aloud but Kyo groaned. "Jez, Mantis. You sure ain't doin me any favors by this. I think you owe me that other Candy."  
pI really shouldn't have been supporting Kyo's problems, but he had a point. The job of teaching Jasusi to speak was going to be taxing. I tossed him the remaining Rare Candy which he caught in one hand and began to unwrap.   
p"Candcree?" questioned Jasusi, looking confused. "Cancree?"  
pKyo held the unwrapped Candy out for Jasusi to see. "Can-de." he explained. "Rare Candy. And it's mine." He pointed to himself.  
p"Damn," Jasusi nodded knowingly. "Candy. Okree Candy?"  
pKyo cast me a pleeding look, wondering if he'd ever get to eat the Rare Candy. "The word is 'okay' not 'okree.' And if you keep asking questions i'll never know."  
pDad chuckled, Jasusi making an exasperated sound and looking towards him. She obviously understood only a little of what Kyo told her, but it was also obvious she thought he was a really impatient teacher too. "Cree..Mine damn, man."  
pKyotoshi glared. "You want me to be un-damn you let me eat the damn candy."  
pJasusi shrugged and walked to stand beside me. Dad climbed onto Kyotoshi's head and gave the forward march signal. Kojiro, still confused, followed.  
pWe walked towards Cerulean, because from there we could get to Lavender, our next stop, by taking Rock Tunnel. What i expected to find there, i wasn't sure. Hopefully i wouldn't run into Josh again...  
pAfter about a mile of walking, Kojiro questioned me in a hushed tone. "Did Kyotoshi actually EAT the Rare Candy?"  
pI checked back over my shoulder. Kyo didn't seem any bit changed, maybe he'd re-wrapped the candy to save for later. I tapped J.C.N.'s Ditto mode and lay her on my shoulder, where she blended in. "Take a level check, J.C.N."  
p"Level fifty six, still." she replied.   
pI closed teh 'dex and shook my head. "No, he didn't eat it yet. And don't ask your next question. We're part pokemon, a Rare Candy works on us same it does on a regular monster."  
pKojiro nodded. "Oh, i see."  
pJasusi looked rather bored walking. I didn't blame her, i'd rather be flying too. "Cree. Damn. Oh. Cree."   
p::Company halt!:: cried Dad. We all stopped except for Kojiro, who kept walking. Oh well, i'd catch him later. Heh.   
p"What is it, Dad?" I asked, walking back to see. Jasusi followed.   
p"Yeah, so long as we're stopping i'm eating my Candy." Kyotoshi took the candy from his pocket, unwrapped it again and swallowed it. I really didn't want to see the results of any vice, and turned away. Dad, too, decided to pretend the problem didn't exist and jumped off Kyo's head.   
p::I hadn't seen any in the mountain, but i knew there would be one sooner or later.:: Dad charged into the brush at the side of the trail and returned with a moonstone in his mouth. ::Moonstones. There's a few back there, a bigger peice must have broken into bits. Have a chunk, save it to evolve something.::  
pI took the Moonstone from Dad, but had a better idea. I grinned. "Let's see who's got some Eevee in them."  
p::What?::  
pI turned to test the stone on Kyo, but found him sitting in the dust, giggling like a kid and grinning hugely. Jasusi, not knowing what had happened, was questioning him insesently with her limited vocabulary. "Damn Candy? Okay Candy? Cree Mine okay damn?"  
pKyo just laughed and waved a foot at Jasusi. I growled to myself and pulled out J.C.N. "Level?"  
p"Boardering fifty seven. He levels up slowly, i give this about an hour, maybe two. Three at the most."  
pDamnit. i shut the pokedex and kneeled next to Kyotoshi. We couldn't make camp to wait for this to wear off, time was not to be wasted in this quest. "Come on, Kyo, get up. Keep moving."  
pKyotoshi giggled, lay back in the road and folded his hands behind his head. "Sorry 'm not here right now. leave a message after the beep, beeeeeeeeeep!"  
PI sighed angrily. Looked like we were going to have to wait after all. "Dad, go after Kojiro, get him back here."  
p::Already on my way.::  
p"Damn candy?" Jasusi asked.   
pI nodded. "Damn candy." I motioned to Kyotoshi. "Give us another problem. Kyo."  
pKyo laughed and swished his hand back and forth in the dirt. "Manti wanti santi sama ain't no fun." Ticking his hand back and forth with each word, he giggled at the end and rolled his eyes towards the sky.  
p"Trkrreeeeel." Jasusi took a shot at the complicated word. "Mine Kyo damn candy."  
p"Come on get out of the dirt and back on your feet, you're getting dirt all over yourself." I grabbed one of Kyotoshi's hands and dragged him up. I had to drag him, as he wasn't helping much being just dead weight. The pokeperson staggered a little, but stood eventually.   
pKyotoshi frowned. "Awwww..."  
pBy now his striped hair was full of dust and the entire back of his jacket was absolutally filthy. Great work, Kyo, i thought to myself. You're miles from a washing machine and shower, and you go do this. "You're more trouble then you're worth, i think. You're lucky i think i still need your help."  
p"'M lucky, yer lucky, she's lucky.." he cast a drifting sideways glance to Jasusi. "We're all lucky!" he laughed aloud and tripped backwards.  
p"Catch him!" I dove, Jasusi dove and Kyo hit a net of Psy waves and wings before he could hit the ground. Jasusi took his hands again and straightened him out.   
p"Trrrrubul." she tried again. "Mine Kyo Trrubul."  
pi pulled J.C.N. out again and pointed it at Kyotoshi. "J.C.N., record what his blood is right now. This is very weird. He's showing signs of intoxication from a Rare Candy."  
pThe 'dex beeped. "Ya think? Actually he's a lot more compliant this way. He isn't nearly as disagreeable. I suggest you take advantage of that and get some questions answered."  
pThe computer had a good point. "Jasusi, keep Kyo like that a few minutes." I tossed a storage ball on the ground and out spilled the camping supplies. Imidiately following that pokeball was Cannibulba's, whose vines where really useful when you ran out of arms and attention.   
pJasusi looked confused. "Krrrep? Crrretch?"  
p"Keep. Catch." i repeated for her, spreading my mind to set up the two tents. Boys and girls, that was how it was going, since i didn't want any trouble. Cannibulba assembled the firepit and unrolled the sleeping bags quickly. I motioned for Jasusi to bring Kyo to one of the tents. "Catch when they fall, keep when they might go somewhere."  
p"Ahh. Keep Mine Kyo." Jasusi walked Kyo to the tent and suddenly let go, letting him fall inside with a painful sounding ithud/i.  
pI bit my lip. "That would have been a 'catch' situation."  
p"Damn."  
pWe stepped inside the tent where Kyo was now lying on his back, giggling again, and traceing shapes in the air with his finger. "Kyo, are you willing to talk with me?"  
p"Manti-pi fi," he laughed. "All talk no fun."  
p"No fun Manti?" Jasusi looked at me, questioning if that was my name. It wasn't important right now so i let it go.  
p"Do you remember the labs, Kyo?"  
PHe giggled and kicked his feet. "Bad dreams, daz all. Nooooo candies.."  
pSo he did know...  
p  
pbPart Nineteen- Bad Dreams, Worse Realities./b  
p  
pWhen he was more lucent, Kyo denied any memory of the Cinnibar labs, or what they'd done to him there. Now, since the Rare Candy was toying with his logic, he wasn't willing to hide what he remembered. Good, We'd need this to save my sister. I flipped J.C.N. open on the floor. "Start recording, J.C.N. And time us. When he finishes leveling up, he'll be rather upset."  
pKyo waved his ears in a fluid like motion, seeming just to like the feeling it gave. "Wooooooo..."  
p"Do you remeber before the labs, Kyo? How they took you?"  
p"Neeeeever take a ride from strangers with candy," Kyo advised hazily. He was definitly drifting off into his own little world. "Out-side playin' n' they got candys..." Kyo grinned. "Strangers got the best candy."  
pCute. they'd kidnapped the kids right off their front lawns. "What did they do in the labs?"  
P"Lotsa shots n' lotsa shots and lotsa candy.." Kyo giggled again and started to close his eyes drowsily. "Manti panti sama ain't no fun. Noooo moooore Candys from Manti-sa."  
pHe was trying my patience. badly. I slapped him, Kyotoshi looked honestly shocked, but started laughing right away again. "Sober up just a little for a minute and talk straight. What else do you remember?"  
pHe reached a hand out towards Jasusi, who shied back a little, but Kyo didn't get up or make any other movement towards her other then to twist his hand some. "Jasi gettin' all changed up. Eerie Iri n' me gettin all'a shots n' changin' real slow.." he dropped the hand to his face and felt over his inhuman features. "Reeeaal sloooow.....ain't seein no change at the end...too dark..."  
p I wasn't sure what that last part ment. I looked at Jasusi, who despite her limited vocabulary seemed to understand a lot of these words. She shivered. "Mine Kyo damn, no keep."  
pKyo didn't pay much attention. He closed his eyes as if he was remembering. "sooo dark ain't no memory..naah...bad dreams, daz all."  
p"No keep, Mine Kyo! No keep!" Jasusi backslapped Kyo with her wing, which sent him back a few inches. Since he was already on the floor to begin with, it didn't do much damage. Just like with my slap, he kept laughing.  
p"No fun! No keep!" Jasusi pleaded. I put a paw on her shoulder.   
p"It's alright. Don't think about what he's saying." Whatever they'd done, the brainwash had failed on Jasusi too, and she understood what Kyo was talking about.   
p"Thinkin thinkin..." Kyo giggled and waggled his foot. "Nope, ain't no thinkin neither. Too many shots, too many candies...no thinkin, nope. Just bad dreams..."  
p"Who did you fight?" I asked bluntly. I knew he must have fought, just like my sister had. "Do you remember?"  
p"Meta meow...lotsa times...again and again and again...oooone down...million b'zillion t'go..."  
  
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p"Metal Myuu?" Once again, we'd wound up with a bit of the puzzle we didn't understand. 


	8. Part 8

pbPart Twenty-Promises not to make/b  
p  
pWhile Kyotoshi kept talking as long as i kept asking questions, most of his answers were muddled and confusing. I learned a little bit about how these pokepeople were changed, i still didn't learn anymore about the Metal Myuu he spoke of so breifly. It posed a lot of questions, like if Myuu was a new species, how could they have been developing metal copies of her a year before my sister and I fought her? I needed some answers. Only one person might know about this...Stryker. He had the largest library of pokemon stuff in all of Team Rocket, being a Silph.   
pIt was late, and both Kojiro and Dad had returned, but that didn't mean Stryker wouldn't be up. I opened J.C.N. and spoke quietly into it, for fear of waking Jasusi, who was snoozing across the tent, hanging upside down from the pole. "Place a call to Stryker Silph. You know the number."  
p"Okey-day." J.C.N. whispered back. For a moment, there was a dail tone, then the operater came on. "Your calling card time has expired. Thank you for using Varri Calling Card services."  
pDAMN! I knew i shoulda actually sprung for a 50$ incrimint on my card. I honestly didn't want to be charged at HQ for a call, so i shut the 'dex abruptly and decided to go to sleep. From the other tent, i could hear Kyotoshi babbling and giggling in his sleep. J.C.N. had been wrong, the effects of the Rare Candy hadn't worn off after three hours, they were still just as potent as when he'd first eaten the thing. I felt somewhat sorry for Kojiro, but figured he could sleep through mostly everything. Dad, on the other hand, i knew, would be paying Kyotoshi back for this sleepless night for a very long time.  
pI felt somewhat guilty as well. I shouldn't have supported Kyo's vices, especially since i knew they weren't doing him any good now. While they didn't actually age him, the change was evident. Kyo was a little different after each candy, a little less himself and a little more the pokemon he'd been created as. Aparently, shifting more to the pokemon side of the mind wasn't a problem only my sister had. These others faced it too. There had to be a cure, i knew...and somehow it tied into this Metal Myuu.  
pAnd myself. That was the odd thing. I, too, was a pokeperson, but i was still the same as the day i'd been created, although i had grown levels and been evolved into Myuutwin along with my sister in our fight with Myuutu. What was it that kept me stable, but let them deteriorate?  
pI fell asleep wondering.  
p The next morning, Kyotoshi didn't remember a thing from his session with the Rare Candy. he even seemed a little nervous, and a tad bit relieved that no one was itoo/i mad with the way he'd acted. Jasusi, not caring at all what he'd said so long as he didn't talk about the labs again, was tagging along behind him, mimicing his words.   
pDad the Meowth hung back with Kojiro today, though. I wasn't sure why until i heard them talking. Of all things! Dad knew english.   
pWe'd reached the very outskirts of Cerulean when Kyotoshi got up the nerve to be appriciative. Not that i minded, he was already pretty mortified that we'd all seen him under the Rare Candy's influence last night, although he didn't show it much.   
p"Hey, Mantis." He was a few feet behind me, but caught up when i turned to see what he wanted. "I just wanted to say it was pretty damn nice of you not to..ya know.."  
p"What? Ditch you? Kyo, besides the fact that i do need you to help, you're family. And besides that you're my friend." i patted his head between the ears, and a puff of dust arose. Kyo flushed, shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to avoid being reminded of what had happened. Dad had given him the full story, straight from Jasusi. Poor kid was feeling pretty cut down. "I'm not going to ditch you, Kyo."  
pHe shook his head. "I ain't askin for a promise. In fact, i'm askin ya don't make one. You ain't gonna be able to put up with my damn problems forever. At some damn point you will ditch me." the pokeperson shrugged. "It ain't somethin i'm pretendin won't happen."  
pJasusi, who had remained quiet until now, flapped her wings. "No ditch, Mine Kyo. damn ditch you. Okay keep you."  
pI nodded, agreeing with Jasusi's broken, confusing english. "She's right. we won't leave you when you need help. If things get that bad with you," i gripped Kyo's shoulder. He backed his ears, feeling guilty. "If you ever are to the point where we would even consider ditching you, that's when you can count on us to help you out. We're always here for you, Kyo. I'm family. Jasusi's a friend. You can always beat this thing."  
PHe snorted. "Don't make a bet on it."  
pJasusi flung a wing over Kyo's shoulder, a wing large enough to cover his back like a cape. "Mine Kyo no fall. Jasusi catch if fall. Manti catch. Mine Kyo keep."  
pKyo smiled and laughed a little, but not much. "Ya know, ya wouldn't'a seen me like that yesterday if ya hadn't givin me the damn job of teaching her, Mantis."  
p"I would prefer to see you like that 24/7 then have you hide your problems." I told him.   
p"Well, it ain't never happenin' again." Kyotoshi intoned. "No more Rare Candies. I ain't willin to loose my only friends cause of some damn problem i got."  
pI sighed. I doubted he would be able to keep that promise, and i had a feeling his making it was only leading us into more trouble.  
pJasusi must have guessed what i was thinking. "If this okay no show damn," she told me. She was right. Kyotoshi was feeling motovated, and it was better to have him that way then depressed and lagging behind. Certainly it was healthier for him. Having friends was something Kyo lost when he lost his physical humanity, and he was only now gaining them back. It was as they say..a man with nothing to loose is a dangerous adversary. A man with nothing to loose but prospects was deadly. Perhaps Kyotoshi could kick his Rare Candy addiction...though i doubted it. At least he was trying.  
pI put a hand on Kyotoshi's head and messed his hair again, sending up more dust. "Be as you are," I told him. "Don't change because of what you think others want."  
pJasusi grinned. "Mine Kyo keep, Jasusi no want okay Mine Kyo. Jasusi want trouble Mine Kyo."  
pBefore we got another foot or another word, a siren blared on teh narrow footpath. Dad yowled and jumped onto Kyo's head, yelling at all of us in pokemon. ::It's Jenny! It's Jenny!::  
pKyotoshi broke away and ran for cover in the woods. "The Cops!" He yelped aloud as he scrambled to hide.   
pKojiro heard the English translation of Dad's cry and took off down the path. Good plan. Split up. I ran into the woods in the opposite direction of Kyotoshi, and Jasusi took wing straight away, shreiking loudly. "See you guys in Cerulean!" I called over my shoulder as i fled. A chorous of replies answered me, just as Jenny pulled up and began to yell on her loudspeaker.  
p"Stop right there! You Team Rocket members are wanted for breaking and entering, hacking and flooding Vermillion with Magikarp! I've got an APB on you! Kyotoshi of Celadon! Stop! You're under arrest for unlawful gambling and possession of illigel amounts of Rare Candies! Hey! I said stop!"  
pBy the time Jenny actually started chasing us, we all had looong head starts.   
p  
p  
PbPart twenty-one-Good-bye Kojiro!/b  
p  
pI never thought Kojiro to be the one to make an intelligent decicion, but aparently he was capable of it. I had to admit, i was surprised.   
p"I've been thinking it over," Kojiro told us. We were gathered behind the Cerulean City Gym, trying to keep anyone from getting suspicous. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be working so well. The man who lived in the house across the way kept looking out his window. Well, good for him. I hoped his nosey arse got burnt up by a rabid Vulpix.  
p::Kojiro thinking,:: Dad said to us, ::Everyone run for cover.::  
pKojiro couldn't understand what the Meowth had said. Good for him, he'd probobly get into a fight and loose. "I'm not finding a way to get the Magikarp out of Vermillion by following you guys around. So, i'm going to stay here and use Bill's computer to figure that out."  
p"Bill won't be so keen on that," i decided aloud. Well, it was true. We had been the ones who'd broken into his house, and since Jenny had an APB on us, that also meant we'd been fingered with the job. Damn.   
pThe not-so-bright Rocket scoffed. "No problem. I'll just turn him into a pokemon with his own machine."  
pKyotoshi laughed aloud at that. "Nice plan! He ain't gonna be to compliant i think."  
pJasusi chittered in her strange laughter. "Chee make trouble. Ain't so keep."  
pKojiro wasn't going to be detered. "I'll gas the house with Koffing, first. In any case i'm going to get the information i need."  
pKyo snickered. "Well, in that case, ain't much to say but don't get caught."  
p"Yeah, don't get Jenny on my tail because of a stupid mistake." I crossed my arms and looked at him seriously. I imeant/i that. "I hope you find what you need."  
pKojiro nodded and began to walk up towards Route 24. "See you back at the HQ, Mantis!"  
pUnder my breath, i muttered, "God forbid.."  
pKojiro, maybe thinking i said something else, turned and waved with a big grin. Why did i have the sinking feeling Team Rocket was going to make the news in Cerulean? Oh dear...  
p"I MEAN it about not getting caught!"  
PCupping a hand to his ear, Kojiro kept walking. "What?"  
pI sighed. oooooh brother...well, at least he wasn't going to be bugging me anymore. "Nevermind!"  
pI wondered how people like Kojiro got past quality control. Oh well.  
p::Shall we head to Rock Tunnel?:: Dad suggested, leaping onto Kytoshi's head as usual. ::I see nothing else we need to do here. And we better get moving before that jerk over there,:: he motioned with a thumb, ::figures out who we are and calls Jenny.::  
p"Not a bad idea at all." Lavender town was still a few miles off, and getting a head start wasn't a bad idea at all. "Good idea."  
p"Good plan. Good idea. Keep plan." Jasusi mimiced, nodding knowingly. She cast a glance towards the nosey man's house. "Catch trouble if stay."  
pKyotoshi shook his head. "Not so fast. I ain't leavin' without doin one thing." The pokeperson walked around to the front of the Gym, and Jasusi and i followed, not knowing what he planned to do. With no explanation, Kyo threw open the door to the Gym and screamed inside. "YOU ALL SUCK!"  
pJasusi and i looked at eachother and Dad raised an eyebrow and tapped Kyo on the head. ::And why was that neccicary?::  
pKyo slammed the Gym door shut and shrugged. "If they weren't so damn confident, i wouldn't be commentin'. But people who work in gyms need their egos screwed with. I ain't lettin' em walk around all high-n'-mighty." He grinned. "Anyway i ain't got nothin' else to do. Let's scram."  
pJasusi folded her arms. "Yeah, good plan. Let's scram."  
pSo we started walking again. The last pokeperson, and hopefully a few answers lay in Lavender, and Lavender lay in our way. It was time to gain something more then extra bodies on this venture.  
p  
pbPart Twenty-two- Lavender Revisited/b  
p  
pThe last time i'd been in Lavender Town, my sister and I had spent most of our time in Pokemon Tower, her trying to save the life of a boarderline Charmander, and me trying to catch a Gastly and Haunter. I never DID get that Haunter, seeing as it belonged to the extremely weird ghost keeper of the Tower, Josh. Although he could probobly help out on our quest, i had no desire to communicate with him. He was creepy. Not to mention, a ghost himself.  
pBut this time around, i wasn't hunting for pokemon. I was hunting for pokeipeople/i. And hopefully when i found one, i'd find some answers too. Lavender was teh place you went if you wanted to find mysteries, but maybe there were answers here too.   
pOutside the town, on the very fringes, a little boy holding a Cubone spotted my uniform and scowled. "You Rockets are nothing but trouble! Cubone's momma was killed by you guys, now he's an orphin!"  
pThe fur on the back of my neck stood up. "What? That's nuts, no Rocket would ever kill a pokemon! They're too useful! And besides, only an idiot would kill a Marowak. They're no good dead, and much more friendly alive."  
pThe kid just frowned and secreted Cubone away inside his jacket. Something was stinking around here, and it wasn't the wind from Vermillion. I decided to ignore the kid and keep heading in towards town. If we Rockets were being framed for a death of not just any pokemon, but a kickass Marowak, it warented a little investigation.   
p"What was that about?" Kyo asked. "I ain't never heard of Rockets commiting murder."  
pI shook my head. "I'm pretty sure we didn't, which is why i'm confused. Just the same, i think i'd better loose the uniform. If Team Rocket is hated here, no point in broadcasting i'm one of them." I teleported out of the uniform. It wasn't a taboo, i didn't look anymore human then Myuutu did. The uniform was strickly Team Rocket code, not my prefrence. Let's not break the rules, i thought. Let's just bend them a little.   
pDad nodded. ::Good idea. Smart girl. I think we ought to check this out too. Might have something to do with your quest.::  
pJasusi nodded, and turned to Kyotoshi. She rapped him on the side of the head, shaking Dad as well as her intended target. "No mimic Mantis. People no want see your damn ass."  
pI burst out laughing. Maybe teaching Jasusi english wasn't such a good idea. Kyo glared at her, aparently not as amused. Dad laughed anyway.  
p"I wasn't PLANNING on copying Mantis. Ain't we a bit perverted?"  
pJasusi just giggled.   
pI shook my head and motioned for them to follow me to the Name Rater's house. He saw almost everyone who passed through Lavender Town, he was bound to know a little bit about what was going on. Info was what i needed.   
pKyo seemed a bit uncomfortable about talking to people here, i noticed. He jumped whenever someone brushed past him, and nearly beat a girl who joked about ghosts unconcious.  
p"Afraid of ghosts, Kyotoshi?"  
p"Me? No way. No damn ghost scares me. Just this friggin Goth town is damn freaky." He cringed and made a face as someone moved past him.   
pI didn't want to say so, but that was the reason no one was bothered by us here. Lavender was a safehaven for weirdos and lunatics...it was also a place where it was easy to mask the truth with a simple lie. We left the streets and entered the Name Rater's house, hopefully not tripping any alarms from the guy who was framing us Rockets.  
pThe Name Rater was actually pretty helpful, though not too bright. He answered most of my questions straight away, without ever asking ones of his own. "Sure, i know who handles the news around here. It's the Mayor, Mr. Fuji. He loves pokemon and does all he can to preserve their beuty."  
pSo Mr. Fuji was the one making up that Rocket lie. The question was still how come? We Rockets left Lavender dead alone, except for passing through. Hell, the place didn't even have a GYM! I doubted the Name Rater would know about that, though. And if he did it was a sure fire tip-off we were nosing around. Best play it safe. "I can see why. Who would want to hurt a Marowak? They're rare enough. Mr. Fuji works at the volunteer pokemon center, doesn't he?"  
pNodding, the Name Rater checked his watch. I didn't know why, we weren't taking up much time. "Yes, Marowaks are very rare. Perhaps the Rockets had been trying to catch it, i'm not sure. About the volenteer center, Mr. Fuji is their president. He's such a kind man, caring for those pokemon."  
p"Yeah, real sweet and nice i bet," growled Kyotoshi. "Speakin' a rare stuff, there's a mother load of Rare Candies lyin around here. I've never seen so many before, why?"  
pI glanced at Kyo. He glared back. ::He didn't pick any up that i saw,:: Dad told me.   
p"Oh," The Name Rater looked at his watch again, seeming to grow increasingly anxious. "i'm not sure about the other routes and towns, but Lavender always gets a lot of careless trainers. They drop things all the time, i suspect that's your explanation." Abruptly, he stood up, took his hat and made for the door. "I hate to cut our meeting short, but i have an engagement in a few minutes. I hope you don't mind."   
pWe got kicked out. We could have put up a fight, but doing so might have looked a little suspicious. Kyotoshi held his tongue until the Name Rater had locked his door and left us standing on the stoop.   
p"What the hell was his problem? It ain't like i asked 'bout somethin confriversail." Kyo shoved his hands into his jacket pocket and scowled. "Jerk off."  
PJasusi sat on the stoop and sighed loudly, putting her head in her hands. "Damn jerk, yes. But maybe catch bad idea, Mine Kyo."  
pI nodded. "It does seem pretty fishy, maybe he knows something about it. Maybe it's related to this whole thing. I mean, why did he leave so quickly?"  
p"Oh," said a voice from above us, "Everyone leaves at this time of day. It isn't safe to stay."  
pWe all looked up. Dad's mouth dropped open, as if he was seeing something completely unusual. A boy sat on top of the house, his skin cream colored like Dad's, with a curly Meowth tail. His eyes, though, were slanted, and his ears stubbier then a Meowth's. He also glowed. I could sense it, it was obvious to me. He was a Psy pokeperson.  
p"Jeez, you all seem a little shocked." The boy grinned and kicked his feet. His hair was dusky brown, Abra coloured, and he wore a baggy white tee-shirt and army coloured pants, a lot like the cargo pants my sister always wore. "Guess i should introduce myself. My name's Irin."  
  
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	9. Part 9

pbPart Twenty-Three- Irin, Abra&Meowth/b  
p  
pI would have said something if i wasn't dumbfounded that it'd been this easy to find the third pokeperson. I finally got myself together enough to say SOMETHING..but by then Irin had decided to say something himself.   
p"You guys really should take cover. C'mon, the pokecenter isn't locked. You can hide out in there. At least until five o'clock. People start coming back then." He snapped his fingers quite unexpectidly and Teleported us to the center. Kyo, having never been Teleported, was shaken up a bit. Jasusi took it in stride, as did Dad.   
p"SHIT!" Kyo panted, dizzy from the Teleport and holding himself up by gripping the back of a waiting couch. "Don't DO that! I ain't built to go zippin through time n' space, Iri."  
pIrin looked confused. He was much younger then the rest of us. "You're joking, right? You've teleported before."  
pKyotoshi was still shaken up. "NO! What the hell were you thinkin?"  
p"Oh.." Irin seemed not in the least apologetic. "Oh well. I have stuff to do, see you guys later!" He started to fade into a Teleport, but i Psy-blocked him. He didn't go anywhere.  
p"Would you mind waiting a bit?" I asked with a glare. Irin scowled but stopped trying to Teleport. "What do you remember about Cinnibar?"  
pJasusi cringed visably, and Kyo paled a bit. Irin looked a little shocked. "How do you know i was on Cinnibar?"  
p"I'll explain later. What do you remember?"  
pHe shook his head and blinked, the small Abra eyes not showing much of a difference. "Nothing, really. Just a lot of darkness. If i was totally human once, i can't remember." he grinned. "I like being a half-human, anyway."  
pKyo looked really shocked. "What, are you friggin nuts?"  
pIrin shook his head, no. Levetateing off the floor, he grinned. "Can't do this if you're human, that's for sure! And the Abras think a lot faster then humans. I can build cool stuff. Plus i'm more powerful then any human would be." He zipped in a somersault in the air, and levetated gracefully back to the ground.   
pKyotoshi took a seat on the couch and growled. "Yeah, but ya ain't got no family or nothin."  
pShrugging, Irin started a Teleport again. I kept him blocked. "Not around here. The people are a little weird, but they understand you." He glared at me. "I do have stuff to do, right now."  
p"Just a few more questions," i promised. Dad was still staring open-mouthed. Jasusi sniffed around the pokecenter equipment.  
pIrin scowled. "Alright."  
pI gazed out the window. Nothing seemed to be happening. "Why do all the people leave this time of day?"  
p"Yeah," Kyotoshi lay back on the couch and stared at the ceiling, bored. "Ain't there some giant ghost that comes round n' steals people's souls?"  
pIrin furrowed his eyebrows. "Not to my knowledge. No, something else comes. Something worse."  
p"So why don't you stay inside?"  
p"Me?" He grinned. "Cause i know how to deal with it. You guys don't, so you should stay here, hide and be very quiet."  
p"Why?" Kyotoshi asked, iritated that he was being ordered around.   
pThe Abra/Meowth person shook his head. "Cause it's way worse then loosing your soul if they catch you. Don't worry, i'll be back soon. Then i can show you my workplace."  
pI lowered the Psy-block, letting the kid start his Teleport. "What do you make there?"  
PIrin grinned devilishly. "You'll see!"  
p  
PbPart twenty-four-The E-stone Theory!/b  
p  
pIrin left, much in the same manner he'd showed up. That is, quite abruptly and with little warning. Dad was still tongue tied when he left, doing little more then pointing. It was really confuseing to see the Meowth reacting in such a way, seeing as Kyo had told Jasusi and i that he and Irin had been changed in the same way at the same time. If Dad had seen Kyotoshi, wouldn't he have certainly seen Irin? Aparently not. The reaction was also kind of funny to watch.  
p::He...he...he's...:: Dad pointed to the air where Irin had been with his mouth hanging open. Kyotoshi, slouching on the couch, laughed meanly to himself. I folded my arms and shook my head.   
pJasusi approuched Dad and closed his mouth for him. "Keep shut, no want Butterfree fly in." She grinned demonicly. One thing to say about Jasusi aside from her skills in mimicing...she certainly had her own variety of humor. Kyotoshi snickered mostly to himself, but didn't react any other way.   
p::But, from Cinnibar, the idiots...:: Dad was still pointing. he was pretty stupified, and we STILL didn't know why.  
p"Spit it out, old man. We ain't got time to listen to your damn stutter. Jasusi n' me remember Irin. Why don't you?" Kyo snorted, since he didn't much like Dad to begin with.  
pDad spun on Kyo and out flashed his claws. ::Listen, skippy, i may be shorter then you, but i can whoop you five ways from next tuesday. Pay some respect to your elders!::  
pI wasn't much in the mood for their fights, Irin's warnings had shaken me up a little. I didn't want any more attention drawn to the abandoned pokecenter then was needed. Besides, all boasting aside, Dad probobly COULD whip Kyo in a fight, seeing as Kyotoshi didn't know how to use any of his attacks. I interveined. "Dad, you're getting off topic. What's so out of the ordenariy about Irin? Besides the fact that he pops up randomly like a sprite."  
pAparently Dad was more interested in what he'd been thinking then beating up Kyo, thankfully. ::Back on Cinnibar, one of the biggest contrivercies was what pokemon to splice. If they came out like Kyo, there was a problem obviously. Can't have your test subject depressed all the time, right?::  
P"Yeah, you went over that."  
p"Hey, SHUT UP!" Kyo scowled from the couch. he didn't like his problems talked about.  
p::Well, that wasn't the main problem. The big kabango was keeping you guys from evolving.::  
pI raised an eyebrow, Jasusi scratched her head. "What? We've never evolved. Aside from my sister and i with the element stones, but i don't think that was intended."  
PDad nodded and pointed a claw. ::Exactly. Element stone evolving is a dominant trait. So throw an Eevee or Growlithe in there and bingo, no problem with leveling up evolutions.::  
pI cast a glance at Jasusi, wondering how then she fitted in. She blinked and replyed simply: "Jasusi is Clefairy. Keep sharp teeth, catch?"  
POkay there went that question at least. There was still another. "But what's so wrong about evolution?"  
pDad shrugged. ::They speculated it might be painful, that only one part might evolve if the cells weren't blended tight enough. Rip you up, distort you badly.::  
pI winced. it wasn't a pleasent thought. At least the reason that theory didn't apply to me or my sister was clear. We'd had our cells blended from before birth, we were nice and stable. I was afraid i didn't know if the same applied to Kyo or Jasusi. Or Irin for that matter.  
pAparently Kytoshi wasn't much in a thinking mood. "So what's this got to do with Irin, damnit?"  
pDad's eyes flashed and his fur rose, but nothing else happened. ::Can i spell it out any simpler? Irin is Nyaahsu and Keishi. Nothing else. No Eevee. No e-stone pokemon.::  
pKyotoshi gave me a blank look at those monster names. "Meowth and Abra," i explained.  
phe nodded as if he'd known all the long. "So? When one evolves, won't the other?"  
pJasusi slapped him hard with her wing. "Why no listen Mine Kyo? Jasusi even catch!"  
p"OWCH! Sonofabitch, Jasi, knock it off!"  
pJasusi ignored the protest and hit him again. "Listen!" she commanded. "THINK!!"  
pI decided to save Kyotoshi a sound beating. "Meowth and Abra evolve at different levels, Kyo."  
phe rubbed the back of his head and growled. "Yeah, i get it already! i ain't stupid. So when he hits level sixteen he's gonna get ripped up, is that it?"  
pDad shrugged and twitched his wiskers. ::that's what i think.::  
pKyotoshi scowled. "Well that's gonna suck."  
pP  
bPart twenty-five-Metala-myuu run in!!/b  
p  
pWe debated the e-stone theory a little longer, trying to decide what to do when Irin started to evolve into a Yungeler, or like Kyo knew it, a Kadabra. If Kyo had an idea, he kept it to himself, with his hands in his pockets as well. He seemed withdrawn, and if i wasn't so absorbed in this problem with Irin, i might have worried. So long as he wasn't slicing his wrists, i supposed he'd be alright for now.  
pWhen Jasusi suggested canceling evolution again -which we'd gone over three times as being stupid, because right up until level 26, he'd be suffering a daily pain from his body trying to evolve- the PC started up with an amazingly annoying "RINGRINGRING! RINGRINGRING! PHONE CALL! PHONE CALL!"  
pWe tried to ignore it, but it persisted. Dad scowled. ::Just don't pick it up.::  
P"RINGRINGRING! RINGRINGRING! PHONE CALL! PHONE CALL!"  
pKyo put his fingers in his ears. "Fix the volume on the damn speakers, will ya?" but no one knew how, since it was a Mac. Who knew how to work those anyway?  
pstill, it persisted. "RINGRINGRING! RINGRINGRING! PHONE CALL! PHONE CALL!"  
p::How much do you think it would cost us,:: Dad asked offhandedly, ::if i smashed it?::  
p"RINGRINGRING! RINGRINGRING! PHONE CALL! PHONE CALL!"  
pI winced. "Not much, i hope." We couldn't answer. Anyone on the other end would imidately know we weren't pokecenter workers.   
p"RINGRINGRING! RINGRINGRING! PHONE CALL! PHONE CALL!"  
pKyotoshi ran out of patience. "God DAMNIT! Just pick the damn thing up!" He jumped out of his seat and marched to the computer, where he angrily slammed his fist on the keypad. The trick worked, the ringing stopped. Unfortunately our trouble wasn't over, because Kyotoshi didn't quite know how to hang up the Mac. He was stuck.  
p"Hey there, who are you?"  
p"Uhhhhhh...." Kyo glanced over his shoulder hopefully, but no helpful employee was in sight. iCrap,/i i thought. iJust tell her to hang up, she's got a wrong number. Talk your way out of it.../I  
p"What's with the stripes. What, do you think you're a Ferrerio?" asked the person on the other line.  
p"Who the hell is this and whatdya want?" Kyotoshi snapped. I rolled my eyes. Sharp, kid. real sharp.   
p"What do you care, Pingobonkey?"  
p"Hey, go suck a Tentacruel!"  
PThe voice on the other line growled. "Get someone who knows what they're doing."  
pKyotoshi shrugged and walked away from the computer. Offhandedly to me he said; "Mantis, it's another freak. Wanna talk?"  
PI was a little shocked. "What do you mean? You mean another Pokeperson?"  
phe shrugged. "Yeah, ain't my problem."  
p i teleported to the computer, just to cross the short distance quickly. I was a little surprised to see my sib's smiling face on the moniter. Oh, goddess. Not now..."Soshika, what do you want?"  
p"Hi Manti-sama!" My sib seemed overjoyed. "Hey, i guessed i'd find you here. Are you looking for Josh?"  
pI growled. This was REALLY the last thing i needed. "Hardly."  
p"Oh," Soshika seemed a little upset. "Well, if you find him, say hello. Oak says i'm getting worse, by the way."  
pWhoopity doo, i thought. Time was running out. "Soshi, you're not supposed to be using a computer. Cheese and rice, you're not supposed to be out of your room even!"  
p"Yeah, i know." Soshika grinned. "I just got bored, so i Mega-Kicked the door down. I didn't really MEAN too, i meant to just practice a few moves in my room, but since the door was down i figured, hey! why not go down to the computer lab and see if i can't contact Manti-sa?"  
pA paw went up to cover my face. "You accidentally..."  
p"Well, you've broken stuff too!"  
p"Yes, Soshi, but i never clawed out of a straight jacket to do it."  
p"I'm not IN a straight jacket."  
pThis was pointless, and if the line got tapped or traced i'd be billed. Damnit, my sib was really stupid somedays. Besides, she'd get yanked off at any minute. She most likely had a purpose for calling. At least i HOPED she did. "Sosh, does this call have a point?"  
p"'Course it does!" She frowned. "Gimme some credit, Manti! I'm sending you your Jigglypuff. I think it's..." she leaned close to the moniter and whispered. "PMSing..it's being really violent."  
pI scowled, but a drive i hadn't seen popped open on the computer and a pokeball slid out. I tapped the side of the nexus, and could see my Jigglpuff inside, grumbling to itself about everyone's being stupid. "Kind of like you," I commented to myself, strapping Jiggly to my pokebelt. At least i had ONE of MY pokemon to deal with now.  
p"It's not my fault, you know that! anyway, i wanted to give you some news too. aBulba fired all the VN members."  
p"ALL of them?" i was a little shocked. aBulba was usually quite nice.  
p"Well, we're welcome to re-apply, but i've kinda fallen out with aBulba since the Netbus incident..." Soshika tried to look innocent. Oh great, she was playing with hacker proggies again. No wonder she had a virus.   
p"Nice work, ms. think-ahead. Anything else?"  
p"Yeah, Greyfox-"  
p"Who?"  
pShe looked a bit upset with my ignorance. "Greyfox. Blackskunk changed his name to Greyfox. Anyway, he quit the whole operation. He had this big fight with Komix and i think it helped make up his mind. I've been trying to help out anyway i can, he still keeps contact and all. I messed up Komix's pokemon storage system to get back at him."  
pI grinned. Very cute, she was learning. it would be kind of funny next time Komix went to pull out a Golem and got a Bellsprout. I grinned evilly. "Heh."  
pSoshika started to say something else, but static crossed the screen and an electric squeal cut through. For a moment she disappeard all together, but then she was back. "Whoa, Manti! What was that?"  
P"I don't know." The interfearance started up again, but t his time Soshika's image didn't come back. i banged the computer moniter with my fist, but nothing happened. "Cheese and rice, something's messing with the signal."  
pSuddenly the air flickered next to me and Irin was there. "What are you doing?" He squeaked fearfully. Quick as lightning, he pulled teh computer plug. "NEVER make a call!! They've already got a trace on you, we gotta get outta here!"  
pKyotoshi didn't seem to be in any kind of rush. "Whoa, Iri. Chill out, it ain't nothin but a bad connection. 'Sides, they called here."  
PIrin was hyperventalating, or at least that's what it looked like. Anyway he was breathing hard. "You shouldn't answer! We still have to get out of here, that was jamming static from iTheir/i computers! Come on," He grabbed Jasusi's wrist, and she looked a little surprised by it. "Hurry!"  
p"Calm down, Kyo's right." I put a paw on his shoulder, but it didn't help. He just turned and tried to group-teleport us all again. This time i was ready and blocked it. He turned and glared at me, and i could feel his Group Teleport shoving against my block franticly, like an animal that's been locked ina burning room going for the door.   
p"You're willing to listen to me when i tell you not to go outside, you're willing to listen and you believe me when i say what's out there is worse then loosing your soul. Why don't you believe me now?" He pushed me back, hoping maybe to add an extra push to his teleport, but nothing reacted to his shove. "Listen to me! We have to leave NOW because if we don't, they'll kill us."  
pI was going to ask who "they" were, but at that point, the ceiling crumbled and started to fall on us. Jasusi screamed and covered her head with her wings for a minute, but thought better and jumped into the air, winging upward. More chunks of plaster fell, and Kyotoshi had to dodge to avoid them. Dad meowed and dove under a couch, but the plaster kept falling. Irin looked at me with a terrified expression.   
p"FLY!" he instructed. I nodded and we jumped into the air, leving upwards. I got about twenty feet above the pokecenter when i saw it.   
p"It" was small, very small, not much larger then Dad was. it levetated above the pokecenter and shot sonic blasts into the roof, i could feel them against my skin even from far away. It had metalic skin, it was segmented and looked like a robot, only it wasn't moving like a robot. It had large hind feet, and small arms, with a long thin tail that widened out a bit at the end. A face that would have been otherwise cute flashed with glowing reds and blues from the lights inside. It turned and glared at me, and i knew right away.   
pThis thing was evil. This thing was going to kill us, it didn't have mercy. I doubled back and dove down, Irin looking kind of surprised in my wake. I passed Jasusi on my way down and screamed to her. "It's Metala Myuu! We have to get Kyo and Dad iOUT/i of there! C'mon!"  
  
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	10. Part 10

pbPart Twenty-six-Those who fight and run away.../b  
p  
pJasusi put her wings against her side and dropped into a dive that would have sent her straight into the basement if she'd not been experienced. I braked above what was left of the roof, pretty scared but what else was i going to do? Jasusi was going to get Kyotoshi and Dad out. I was going to stall that Metala Myuu.   
pShowdowns. i hated them, because i never got into them with anyone of equal or lesser level then myself. Metala Myuu looked at me, the red diodes that could pass for eyes moving up and down and across my form. She was tapping into my attacks and skill level the same way J.C.N. could to a pokemon or pokeperson. I couldn't block that, just prepare. Stay ready, i thought to myself. Get on the defensive because she's going to attack first...  
pThe small metal cylander in the middle of Metala Myuu's face (I suppose it could have been a mouth, but it certainly wasn't intended for eating) started to turn slightly. A low humm came from the creature, a buzzing sound that send chills up my spine. What is she DOING?  
pThe cylander rotated all the way around, and clicked. I had barely a second to set up a Barrier, because by then the flames were already spewing out and torching the air around me. When they passed, i held the Barrier a moment longer. That kind of attack could easily have been pulled off by a Charizard...If it happened to be three hundred stories tall!! Metala Myuu had some FIREPOWER!  
pNot a time to wonder why i was doing this, i told myself. Time to attack back. I'd need something tough, and very VERY fast. No time to think, just get in there and do damage...  
pI charged at Metala Myuu and sent a Psywave in her direction. She dodged easily and turned to face me again. I recalibrated my turn and doubled up in the air, crossing my arms and charging for Psybeam. Metala Myuu's mouth peice didn't move this time though. This time the small bumps on the top of her head where ears should be extended slightly and sparked. Electric attack! Damn!  
pI shot the Psybeam, Metala Myuu shot enough power to light up Saffron for a decade and a half. The sky shot through with electric bolts, and the majority were flying at me! My attack was canceled quickly by the huge zap, and the bolts from Metala kept on coming. I didn't have time to put up Barrier. This was going to hurt..a lot.  
pSomething got to me before the electricity did, and fired out a weak Confusion attack. "Get out of here!" Irin yelled at me, trying to cancel the bolts. Every time they hit him, he jerked backwards and dropped a few feet, but kept coming. "Hurry up and run! You can't fight these things!"  
pMaybe he thought that way, but if it had been made..it could be broken. "Keep it distracted," i growled and Teleported inward. If i had the advantage of another player in this game, i might be able to take Metala Myuu out. Psy attacks were canceled too easily, she had been built in defense of those. But if i got in close enough, a fighting move might just do it.  
pMetala Myuu's attention left me and turned to this new perseistent threat that with Irin. I dodged in closer, hoping he could hang in there. One more Teleport and..perfect! Close enough to do some damage! Metala Myuu's diode swivled to find me but by then my foot was already connecting with its metal skull. My foot hit the creature hard, with a resounding clang that filled the air, but it also set me straight into the path of the electric current pulsating around the metalic monster. My limbs numbed and locked, my mind trapped in a disobedient body and blackness grabbed my vision and tugged me down, even though i did not want to go. Metala Myuu and i took the three story plunge to the ground together.   
p  
pbPart Twenty-seven-Irin's work shop& the Klepto-ball/b  
p  
pWhen i was concious again, i was not fully awake even though i was moving. The ceiling was not torn away, so i reasoned i was no longer in the pokecenter. I could also hear Kyotoshi and Dad argueing in the other room, so i figured we'd all gotten away safely. At any rate i figured i had better get up, because if the volume of the yelling and the flashes of light from the other room were any indication, the roof of this building might be coming off very soon too.  
pWhen i stood up, i relized with some annoyance that i got tunnel vision. It's a stupid passing illness, really. The world goes grey with black closing in on the edges, then the black receeds and colour returns, along with a headache. Metala Myuu must have shocked me hard if i was still feeling it. In any case the headache didn't hurt that much so i went into the next room anyway.   
pIrin was playing something that sounded maybe a year or two old, deffinitly real rock and not hard or soft stuff. He was leaning over a workbench with the shattered and mostly dismantled Metala Myuu, welding mask down and taking even more of the creature apart. The room was deffinatly a workshop, filled with all sorts of strange devices and tools and things. It reminded me of Abraham Whistler's workshop from the movie Blade. The flashes of light i'd see thankfully weren't from Kyo and Dad fighting, but from Irin's welding torch. Dad and Kyotoshi were fighting though, pushing at eachother and snapping and basicly just trying to rebuild the pecking order. Jasusi hung upside down from a ceiling lamp doozing.   
p"Glad to see you all made it out in one peice," i said aloud. The music kept up, but eyes turned on me. All except Jasusi of course. she was still sleeping. Irin flipped up the mask and turned down the torch.   
p"You almost didn't. next time warn me when you do something like that, okay?" he put a peice of wire from Metala Myuu's destroyed body into his mouth and started to weld again. "Burr i gorra han i to ya," he muttered around the wire, "'M rerry grefur you knocked dis un down. M've neverr gorren un to wukkat before."  
p"Don't mention it. And take the wire out of your mouth when you talk, you sound like Kyo on Rare Candies. i can't understand you."  
pIrin laughed for a minute and took the wire from his mouth "Rare Candies..ha! That's pretty funny."  
PKyotoshi glared darkly and sat on a workbench on the other side of the room. "Ain't too funny to me."  
pI rolled my eyes and levetated a peice of Metala Myuu's tail straight at him. "Don't get so worked up, Kyo. i didn't mean to get you pissed."  
pIrin looked a little confused for a minute, but peiced it together quickly thanks to his abra brain. he shook his head. "You guys are too weird for me."  
P"Stow it," i told him, surveying the workbench. "So what did you find out?"  
pAgain he shook his head. "Nothing much. It runs kind of like a pokedex with a very violent mind of its own. It's something really strange though, a robot that can think." he removed the faceplate and i could see the crossing wires and curcit boards that made up the thing's brain. The diode now was dead and still. "See, it has all kinds of things in here. Flamethrower, electric generators, water pump, gas chambers and spore chambers. All industrial strength in size, pressurization and ability to keep working. I'd say it has to refuel every day or so though."  
pSlick, i thought. And since its body was obviously flame, rust and shock proof, we'd need something better to bring it down. "And my kick did it in why?"  
pIrin turned the head over and removed the back plate with a little effort. My foot had really made a dent. "A peice of the board is stored too close to the surface back here. What i think happened is you got your foot to crack the casing and it zapped itself. If it'd been using fire or water or something, it might have been a different story altogether. The componants aren't flamable, and are waterproofed. Gas and spore wouldn't do anything either."  
PAnybody got a Raichu? I wondered. Taking these things out would require some mega voltage. Still, we knew it was doable. "Where'd they come from?"  
P"I can answer that one for you," Kyo put in grouchily. "Cinnibar labs. They used them to test us out, before they had the real myuu obedient enough to fight. I could never take them out, i don't know about the others." he shook his head. "That's all i damn well know, everything else really is just darkness."  
pSlick, i thought for the second time in a five minute period. "Do you know who brought them here?" three sets of heads shook no. Well, that about exhasusted the Metala Myuu information for now. "So what else do you make, Irin?"  
P"A lot of things!" the kid replied, plucking two strangely coloured pokeballs from the rack above the workbench. They weren't like any i'd ever seen, a dark grey on bottom and a lighter shade on top. "This is my favourite so far though. Check em out." he tossed me one. I clicked the button, and it snapped open, empty. It looked normal inside to me.   
p"It isn't a blaster ball or a goo ball or anything. What is this?" I closed it and handed it back to him.   
p He grinned and shrank it, placing it in his pocket. "I'll show you. I call battle."  
pI looked around the crowded tiny workshop, where there was deffinitly not enough space for a drawn out battle, or even a short one for that matter. "In here?"  
P"Sure it won't take but a minute." Irin whistled and into the room raced a dusky brown and gray small dog thing as fast as its tiny legs could carry it.   
P "Vee!! Eee!!" it cried. I raised an eyebrow.   
pIrin didn't seem to care. "Meet Doner, my Eevee. I found him wandering around pokemon tower a few weeks ago. Enough said. Pick your monster, i have to show you this."  
pThe last thing i wanted was that Pikafreak on the loose in here, or Nidorabid for that matter. That left Cannibulba or my PMSing Jigglypuff. Seeing as the Jigglypuff might get TOO violent, i chose the bulba. he sniffed Doner for a moment then settled back, deciding he wasn't good to eat.   
p"Call attacks, you first." instructed Irin. Doner sat at his feet swishing his tail, looking in no condition for a battle.  
PI sighed and tried to get into the spirit. "Okay fine...Cannibulba, use your vine whip and beat that Eevee into a chair!"  
p::Right!:: affirmed Cannibulba and sent his vines straight for Doner.   
pIrin made no move to counter attack. Instead, he threw the grey pokeball straight for Cannibulba's head. "Kleptoball! Go!"  
p"Kleptoball?" I barely had time to wonder because the pokeball hit Cannibulba on the head and sucked him inside with no problem at all. A pretty slef explanitory name, actually. Irin picked it up and handed Cannibulba back.  
p"See, it uses some of the technology police balls use to retreive illigal pokemon, and it doesn't reject anyone elses just because they have a different mark or something. It steals the pokemon, just like that!" He snapped his fingers. "A real Team Rocket type invention, don't'cha think?"  
pKyotoshi was sitting bolt upright now, staring. "That's pretty damn useful! does it work on non-pokemon too?"  
pIrin scratched his head and shrugged. "Well, sometimes. I think it depends on the stuff. I didn't use much of the Storage Ball mechanics in it. It was really only intended to steal pokemon."  
pI bounced the Kleptoball in my hand. It might come in useful, though i wasn't sure. I clipped it to my belt. "Real clever, Irin. And you said you found Doner around Pokemon Tower?"  
PThe kid nodded and lifted his Eevee into the air. Doner didn't seem to mind, he was probobly used to it. "Yep. Someone must have left him or maybe he was wild. I don't know."  
p"Didn't you have to fight the ghosts and the Ghost Keeper for him?" The Ghost Keeper would be Josh, who'd given both me and Soshika a terriable time when we'd tried to capture pokemon in his tower. He was fair though. He gave us a chance.   
pIrin shook his head. "No, all the ghosts got driven out a little while ago from the Metala Myuus. Those that weren't captured anyway. Like i said, they're worse then loosing your soul."  
p"But ghosts without their homes just-" Kyo knew this much. At least he wasn't completely stupid.  
pI shook my head. "Poof. Expire. That's sad, very much so. My sister knew one of them very well."  
pIrin sighed and shook his head. "Yeah, i know. They were a little goofy..but still nice. Some of them survive, though. Down on the docks, you know? There's an person to the east who lives on an island and takes care of ghosts. If they had the strength, they would go there."  
pI shook my head again. "The Ghost Keeper..Josh. He wouldn't've made it. He could hardly go as far as teh pokecenter for long. I think he's dead...so to speak."  
pIrin shrugged. "I don't know, he might have made it. If there's anyone who'd know, it'd be that person."  
pKyotoshi grinned to himself and laughed a little. "What the hell, i was gettin bored stayin in one place this long anyway. Let's go check out this damn lunatic's house!"  
pDad looked up at Jasusi, who was still sleeping upside down. ::I'll stay,:: he said. ::Someone ought to tell Jasi what's going on when she wakes up. Otherwise she might flip.::  
p"Good plan," I nodded and headed for the small door. "Let's get a move on."  
p  
PbPart Twenty-eight-Gengar, who isn't REALLY a Gengar that's just her name./b  
p  
p"I don't like the whole damn ghost idea," Kyo stated with the predictable insert of a swear word. He was feeling grouchy from having to walk the entire way, while Irin and me could fly. I hardly could blame him, but complaining didn't do any good.  
pIrin slowed and waited for Kyotoshi to catch up. "Why not?" he asked innocently. "Most ghosts are pretty nice. Even if they're not pokemon, you can usually get them to stop making trouble by just asking." Of course Kyo would have no way of communicating with a ghost unless the ghost initated contact. He was psychicly headblind, he couldn't talk to things that were only there in the astral sense, he couldn't see them. But Irin wouldn't know that.  
p"Sounds like most girl hackers," Kyo muttered darkly. "I still don't like em. Dark and dead. Too damn much like a lot of time from both our lives." He glared at Irin, who fell silent and levetated back upwards.  
pWe weren't too far from the new Ghost Keeper's house, but we would have to cross maybe a half a mile of water, and Kyo, being part Fire pokemon, wouldn't be able to swim that. Irin and i would have to levetate him, seeing as since i'd never been there, we couldn't Teleport.   
pThe sky was a rather pretty colour red, the sun starting to go down right over the ocean. Many people have noticed this is a little strange, seeing as the ocean is south (Sorry Stryker, had to steal that. regards~ the author) and the sun sets in the west. Oh well, it looked very pretty. Rumor had it, if you climbed up Mt. Moon and stared outward, you could be the first person on the south coast of our country to see the sun go down. Of course those to the east stick to their story that this is not possable. Tell that to the sunset.   
pWith the fire of the sun giving up its daily chase through the sky, the clouds died golds and oranges, like the aftermath of a nuclear explosion. In an hour it would be night. In an hour, the ghosts would be ready for travel from wherever they hid during the day from the wrath of the Metala Myuus. Although i myself had no pity and no liking for the former Ghost Keeper, i found myself hoping that maybe he had managed to survive somehow. Even if i thought he deserved to be bound in some inescabable dungeon rather then causeing trouble amoungst the living, my sister loved him.   
pWe reached the docks before the sun had begun to set, and walking along them during the end of the day and the start of the night, you could hear the fish and other ocean dwellers leaping in and out of the water while feeding on the lingering plankton. The sound filled your ears, and especially if you grew up on an island, it comforted you. Irin put his paws into his pockets and sighed, even Kyo seemed captivated by the serentity. In the distance, we heard a low wail, and the head of a Lapras rose from the waves, looked around and dove down again. I smiled and quoted from "True Journey"- a sort of counter culture book for pokemon trainers. p  
"Oh Cinnibar, Oh island home you forever call to me, br  
"Shores that whisper gently across windward face and lee,br  
"Silver light breaking on the beachstones, Night hiding deep belowbr  
"Peace be with thee, Cinnibar, and those who come and go."  
pIrin sighed, i guess he was a sentemantal kid. "That was nice, but mostly untrue.."  
pKyotoshi shrugged. "I don't get it."  
pI frowned, grabbed his arm and lifted him halfway into the air. "Oh, shut up candy brains. Irin?"  
pIrin nodded and grabbed Kyo's other arm, basicly we lifted him off the ground with Psy power alone. We could have levetated him on his own, but I didn't trust Kyotoshi to know how to fly.   
pThe funny thing about flying is that it takes a very short time, but you notice everything happening as you do it. We flew low to the waves, Kyo's feet dragging in the surf and splashing him and us. The water blurred in its reflection of the sun, became a reddish streak in our vision as we moved towards the distant island. A mile offshore, we slowed and came in close. Ghosts were Psy too, in their own way. You didn't want to scare them, if they did live here.   
pKyotoshi was the first one on the beach, and even being headblind psy-wise he knew something was very strange here. He put his hands deep into his pockets and backed his ears, not daring to wander. Irin and i touched down, we could feel it too. There were thousands of ghosts on this island, you could ismell/i them they were so close too. Kyotoshi shuddered. "This creeps the hell outta me, let's get going."  
pIrin pointed towards the small house in front of a very large house that i figured the ghosts were staying in. It looked like Hill House from that crappy movie "The Haunting", very big and very gothic. "The Ghost Keeper lives there. In the little house. She'll let us in, i think. I don't know though, i've never really visited before."  
pWe approuched the door, pretty willing to find out by just prancing right up. The door was thick and wooden, like something out of the middle ages. I banged on it with a fist. The sound was very deadened and i doubted it could even be heard on the other side. I pounded harder.   
pThe door suddenly swung open and all three of us jumped, Irin barely a step from Teleporting out of here. A thick, black wooden cane emerged from the dark behind the door and hit me three times soundly on the head. I caught the cane in one hand and pulled, but whoever was on the other side was strong. An "S" was engraved in silver at the top of the cane. "Hey who's in there? What's the big idea, buster!" I raised my gold hand and started to charge up some psy powers. No one hit me without being hit back.  
p"Stop!" cried a forboding voice from inside. "Do not hit the great and wise Ghost Keeper!"  
pWe all jumped again, and i let go of the cane and took a step back. Irin was shaking in his shoes, his tiny abra eyes opening as wide as they could. "Wh-who are you?"  
pFrom the darkness slowly stepped a dark figure, dressed in shades of gray and purple, a cloak covering their person sewn with strange runes. The figure clutched the cane in one hand, though it was aparent they did not need it to walk.   
pSlowly, the figure lowered the voice syntisizer from her face and smiled cheerfully. "My name's Gengar. You?"  
pI breathed a sigh of releif- the ghost keeper was barely older then Irin. She'd had me scared a minute.   
pIrin was still a little shaken but pointed to himself. "I-i'm Irin."  
pKyotoshi was trying to figure out how a kid got to be Ghost Keeper. "Isn't Gengar a pokemon?" he asked. "You're not a-"  
pThe cane came down on his skull with a sound THWACK that sent Kyo straight to the ground. "MIND YOUR OWN BUISNESS!" Snapped Gengar, brandishing her weapon viciously. Well. She certainly was assertive enough to handle ten thousand goofy ghosts flying around her island.   
p"Listen, Gengar, we need some help. The former Ghost Keeper, the one from Pokemon Tower..."  
pShe waved her cane ran inside and slammed the door in our faces. "Nope, don't know him sorry!"  
pI banged on the door again, it opened a crack and Gengar hit me on the head with her cane. I growled. "Stop that. Now listen up; we want to chase those Metala Myuus out of his tower, but we may need his help."  
p"Of COURSE you'll need his help." Gengar said, rolling her eyes. "Of COURSE. Only Ghost Keepers can battle to retreive their haunts."  
p"So have you seen him?"  
p"No." the door slammed again. I pounded on it again, but this time when the cane shot out i caught it and tugged hard. I dragged Gengar's face to the crack in the door.   
p"I know Josh was mostly evil, and you would much rather not have him out there but the only way you're ever going to be assured he's out of your hair is to keep him in one place. I know you've seen him. I can tell from the way you're hitting me." I jerked the cane, lifting her upwards. "Where is he?"  
pGengar squirmed, finally let go of the cane and dropped down. "Yeesh you don't need to be so bossy about it," she muttered and opened the doors. "C'mon in and i'll show you why i didn't want you here. But cause any trouble- any at all! and all the ghosts on this island will be in here by the time i count to two."  
pWe entered calmly, pushing past the great doors. I handed Gengar back her cane. "No problem."  
pKyotoshi shuddered and looked up at the ceiling of the ill lit house. "This place is creepin the hell outta me," he said with a shiver.  
p  
pbPart Twenty-nine- Whatever happened to Josh...?/bp  
p  
pGengar lead us into a dusty study that was cluttered with books and candles. Candlelight was the only source of illumination. There was a small writing desk and a fireplace that stood empty, as well as a little bed in the corner that was probobly used for guests. It was obvious though by the various assortments of ghost-keeperish clothing laid out on the bed that Gengar was using it at the time, and the main bedroom was being used by someone else.  
pThe books were covered in dust, bound in leather and written by hand. Titles like "the beast within" and "Celtic Magick" paraded across the bookshelves, a few cobwebs between them to keep the spiders happy. Across the room, next to the fireplace was another wooden door, with a latch that was almost as old as most of the buildings in Lavender. Irin reached for it and started to lift it up, but Gengar spotted him out of the corner of her eye and shook her head.   
p"I wouldn't do that if i were you, at least not yet." quickly, Irin dropped his hand. Kyo reached up on a shelf and pulled down a old book called "Zombies" and started flicking through. He got about two pages before he closed it and set it down.   
pI didn't touch anything, not yet. i was busy getting a feel for this place. "So what were you going to show us?"  
p"Did you ever see that Vampire movie 'Blade?'" Gengar asked, flipping open a dusty old book on her workbench. "Well, ghosts sometimes react like vampires. They don't always go poof when their homes are gone, just like you don't always become a vamp if you're bit."  
pKyo poked a human skull on a high up shelf. "So what're you saying, he's a Zombie thinger now or somethin?"  
p"No," muttered Gengar, turning her book to show me. "He's this."  
p I read the page. The script was anceint and faded, and the text short but easy to read. I spoke aloud as i read for Irin and Kyo. "Gaki. A Gaki is a monster from Japanese folklore that feeds on the essance of things; such as kitchen smells, purfume or smoke. When in their true form they resemble a cloud of dusty gray smoke, but may assume human form when needed. It is uncertain how they are formed, but it is thought that the ghosts of humans undergo a change and become Gakis."  
pI took a breath, because i didn't like the next line and i absolutely knew this was why Gengar didn't want us here. "There are three kinds of Gakis that can kill. Blood, Flesh and Soul Gakis."  
pKyo raised his eyebrows. "Holy shit. So your sister's got like a soul sucker for a boyfriend?"  
p"How do you know he's a Gaki?" I wanted to know.   
pGengar shrugged. "Besides his turning into a smoke cloud and not being able to wander around during the day? Ghosts know they're ghosts, don't they? Well Gakis know they're Gakis."  
p"Are you certain he's one of the three deadly Gakis?" I still didn't want to picture something like Jack the Ripper happening to my sister if he'd become a Flesh Gaki. Blood and Soul were just as bad, of course.  
pShe shook her head. "He isn't surviving well here, and most harmless Gakis can live anywhere." She laughed at my rather shocked look. "Yes, he's in the house. I can't let a Killer Gaki run amok, can i? Besides, he's making a concious effort not to feed. Basicly, he's starving to death because he doesn't want to kill."  
pIrin jumped away from the door and pointed at it. "You mean he's in there? There's a killer ghost in there?"  
pGengar thwacked Irin on the head with her cane. "Don't panic in my house."  
p"May we go see him?" I asked.  
pGengar shrugged. "i don't see why not. He shouldn't attack you. Go ahead, the door's open."  
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	11. Part 11

BPart Thirty- Curiouser and Curiouser (like i care over something as trivial as spelling!!)/bp  
pp  
pHonestly i didn't know what to expect when i entered the room, but i certainly didn't expect to see what i saw.   
pThe Gaki sat on the edge of the bed, his fingers steepled beneith his nose, leaning slightly forward and tracking my every movement. His eyes were cold, but no longer swirled as they had when he was a ghost. He had smelled us, he had heard us outside the door before we even entered the room. I motioned for Kyo to stay back a while. Something in his aura was untrustworthy, dangerous.   
pJosh narrowed his eyes and allowed a small smile to play across his lips, it was obviously unnatural to him. He paused a moment, as if considering my name before saying it. When he did, it came out a hiss of letters, especially the "A" and "S." He grinned as he said them, as if it were a pleasent surprise to be seeing me. "Mantis..."  
pHe looked unwell; starved and much thinner then he should have been. I could tell from the way he moved that there was a hunger in him for whatever it was Gakis took. He was a phantom, i had not expected him to actually ilook/i starved. Could ghosts and gakis feel starvation? Aparently so. "What happened?" I asked him softly, keeping any tone out of my voice that might hint surprise or fear or even worry. "You're a supernatural thing now, you're not supposed to reflect physical weakness."  
p"Hmm.." Josh closed his eyes slowly and thoughtfully, as if savouring the darkness under his eyelids and dropped his hands. "You haven't done much extensive research, have you?"  
pI narrowed my eyes threateningly, almost unaware at the waves of psy-energy that were sweeping off me. I wasn't going to be threatened by someone who wasn't even alive.   
pThe Gaki's eyes flicked open suddenly and glared at me. "As a Gaki i'm only vunerable in my human form. Not only to attack but to disease and hunger as well. Does this bother you, Mantis?" this time he spoke my voice with a growl behind it. "Would you prefer i change into my real shape and loose what control i have? Four perfectly good meals are sitting in this house right now if you happen to be a Gaki. Curious to find out what it's like to have your blood drained?" he grinned again, making it hard to tell if he was serious or only bluffing that last remark.   
pI folded my arms, i wasn't afraid of him. Gaki or no, he was vunerable to psy attacks. "You're trying to frighten me. It won't work."  
pHe sat back with a look of contemplation a moment, speaking aloud softly. "Fear, hmm? Perhaps that's what i eat. Hell knows there's little enough of it on THIS island." His eyes took a far away look, as if he was seriously thinking that over.   
pI wasn't going to sit here and play Clarice Starling while he played Hannibal Lecter. I raised the amount of psy-energy around me to a level that would have been painful to anyone. Indeed, he winced a little and looked at me. "Why did you run away from Lavender, Josh? What's going on there?"  
pAgain, his eyes took the calculateing look. "The present already?" he said quietly. "I was hoping we'd catch up on what's happened since we last met, Mantis. Tell me, how's Soshika doing?" His eyes were cold but the way he spoke my sister's name held no malice.   
p"I think you already know, the way you're looking at me."  
p"No, please." he grinned evilly. "tell me your take on the situation."  
pI scowled. "Frankly it's another errand i don't want. She literally loosing her mind and i have to go find the scraps of it to put it back together."  
pHis eyebrows went up, aparently he hadn't expected me to have figured that much out. "Rather difficult method of doing a simple thing. What do you think caused this..." he paused a moment, choosing his words carefully. He iknew/i already, he just wanted to hear me say it. "Illness."  
p"We initially thought maybe it was a computer virus that was affecting the pokemon in her, since pokemon can be stored and taught things via computer. They're almost bio-computers themselves." I paused, thinking. I was close to something- very very close. The Gaki knew that. He was bringing me to it in his own way. "We found out though that other Pokepeople get that virus too, only not so severely sometimes. Except me."  
p"You're close," he said cheerfully. "Extremely close to what's really wrong with her. Do you remember Y2K?"  
PWhen all the computers had crashed around the year two thousand. That had been an adventure, because entire pokemon species had been whiped out in on swift stroke that proved nothing but some very big very expensive and very smart computers didn't know how to count to two. A glitch- a glitch in all the computers that became a virus and crashed them. Except a few that had been specially designed to count that high.   
p"Holy shit," i said, sounding an aweful lot like Kyotoshi.   
pJosh grinned and stood up. "You've got it."  
ppbPart thirty-one-the Cavelry begins to arive!!/bp  
pI stood staring at Josh for a while, halfway not believeing it. I forced myself to get a grip and stop staring. "Well you've helped me. Are we going to trade?"  
pThe gaki grinned eerily from ear to ear. i didn't like the way he was looking at me, somewhat like he was watching a little child blunder towards the edge of a cliff. "I could help more. What are you willing to do?"  
pI hated back-and-forthing. but it had to be done. "The other pokepeople and i are willing to get you your tower back. We've found a weakness in the Metala Myuus."  
pHis eyebrows went up. "really? that's interesting. I'd fight myself but.." he closed his eyes and grinned again. "in my current condition, i don't think i'd have much of a chance."  
p"Will you help or not?"  
pHis eyes opened, burning like fires. "Yes. but not because you're willing to get my tower back. This is because i treasure your sister. Understand?"  
pI nodded. Even a gaki could feel emotions i guessed.   
pHe stood up, looking even more frail when he wasn't sitting. a chill went up my spine- he was quite nearly a living skeleton. "You'll need me to navigate you around the tower, find the strong points for psy power. But to help your sister you'll have to go back to the place where it all started."  
p"Cinnibar." my expression was serious as anyone could get. I nodded. "Alright. We'll meet you outside the tower in three hours."  
pI didn't wait for the gaki's reply, i left the room and motioned to Irin and Kyo that it was time to go. Irin and i began to Teleport, when Gengar yelled to us. "I'll be seeing you shortly!" she called cheerfully.  
pWhen we returned to Irin's workshop, the rucas could be heard for three blocks away from the house. Music was blaring out of the house, powered by what i couldn't imagine. The lyrics filled the air and were annoyingly catchy. It was a popular song with humans and pokemon both. Irin paled.   
p"oh no," he muttered softly. Kyotoshi just laughed.  
p"Looks like you got a hell of a party goin on, Irin, and you didn't even know it."  
pCovering our ears, we threw the door open and were greeted by three dancing pokemon and one dancing pokeperson. They were all singing along.   
p"Are you a normal type like Jigglypuff?br"Or a ghostly Gengar who battles real tough?br"Yeah, thunderbolt's a great electric attack, br"till you get ground down by a Marowak!br"don't you bug me with a Caterpie,br"For a flying type the win's easy,br"Good luck with Muk and his posion gas,br"Make one wrong move n' it'll kick your grass!"  
pI laughed aloud. "Raizap! Turn down the music before we all get arrested for disturbing the peace!"  
p"Rai rai chu!" answered Raizap with a cute grin, preforming the Raichu Jig in response to my request.   
pI sighed. all i needed was to be met with defiance. "Dad! Jasusi! Doner! iSomeone/i turn down the music and explain to me WHY Raizy's here?"  
pDoner grabbed the volume dail in his paws and swung it down so the music died. Raizap continued to twirl, regardless.  
p"Raizap!" i yelled, snapping her out of her dance. "Why are you here? HOW are you here?"  
pthe Raichu grinned again. ::I took a trip through the PC cables! You sent for me, didn't you? That's what he said.:: she pointed to Dad with her tail.  
p::gaaaaaaah um er ahhhhh...hahaha...:: Dad looked horriably sheepish. ::Well, you said you wanted some electricity. I figured you'd want some Raichuish help you're familier with.::  
pI sighed, Irin looked very ill at the sight of his trashed workshop. Kyo didn't seem to mind and flopped down on the couch again. Doner ran and jumped on his stomach, bouncing up and down for unknown reasons.  
p::You mean...?:: Raizap gritted her teeth as sparks started to show around her cheeks. ::You dragged me out here without any reason? RrrrrrrrrrrrAAAAAAAAAAIIIIII!!!!::  
pThe workshop filled with huge amounts of electricity, zapping everyone into unconciousness. On my way to the floor i thought, well, at least we have a little help in this undertaking.  
ppbPart Thirty-two- Operation Reclaim Pokemon Tower! GWAHAHAHA!/bp  
pWhen i came two, Raizap and i went through a five minute show down between both our energies, destroying random objects in Irin's workshop. Irin just sat and watched in submissive shock as we wrecked invention after invention. I might have been careful, but no one KOed me and got away with it.  
pWhat eventually happened is we both ran out of juice and stood their panting, glaring at eachother. "Never do that again." I told Raizap sourly.  
pBetween pants, Raizap smiled cheerfully. ::Rai yai chu. hehe!::  
pI growled and pulled myself up to full height. "Well, we do need your help even if i wasn't the one who sent you. Raizy you're the most charged up Raichu in Team Rocket. Think you can take out a robotic Myuu?"  
pRaizap stood up and nodded solomnly. ::Rai! I'll make that myuu sorry she ever showed her face!!:: Suddenly her perky ears dropped back and she pulled a little pad of paper out from behind her and proceeded to hold a pencil in her tail and write on the pad. ::Of course there is the subject of payment. hehe!::  
p"How's thirty bags of Cheetos and a few bottles of ketchup?" i cut in quickly. we honestly didn't have any time to bargain. There was no way to tell how much time had been lost while we were unconcious, and the Gaki could already be waiting. No need to make him impatiant.  
pRaizap tapped the pencil thoughtfully on her nose. ::mmmmmmmmmOkay.:: The Raichu decided cheerfully.  
p"Great." I pointed to Irin. "Irin, if any of your Klepto-balls are still intact, grab em. And get Doner too. Kyo!" Kyotoshi looked up from trying to balance a peice of wire on the tip of his finger. "Do you think you can still use the attacks you used to know?"  
pHe shrugged indiferently. "I dunno."  
pThat was good enough for me. Even if he couldn't, it didn't take all that much talent to try to grab something by the tail and swing it. "Jasusi, we may need you to call in some Zubats from Rock Tunnel. Think you can?"  
p"Cree!" Jasi saluted smartly and stomped her foot, showing she deffinitly thought so. "Jasusi do mine best!"  
p"Let's move."  
pOne Teleport and a few sick stomachs later we were creeping around the edge of the Tower, everyone looking exceptionally anxious. Everyone except Raizap, of course, who just looked ready to kick some Metala Myuu behind.  
pMy heart almost shot out of my chest when the Gaki appeared out of thin air next to me, flanked by Gengar. I had no idea how ghosts did that, but they did. Gengar waved hi and silently mouthed a greeting, but didn't say anything. I waved back. "You're going to want the tunnel entrance," Josh explained flatly, "It's the best way in. When i was chased out and..." His expression became fearfully hateful. "Changed...they were putting a control tower in the top floor. I'm not sure what it was meant to control."  
p"Irin said there was more then one Metala Myuu. How many do you think will be at that entrance?"  
pThe Gaki shook his head. "I'm not sure. But if you're up against odds you can't take, Gengar and I can hold them off."  
pI looked from the short kid with her staff to the starving Gaki and back again. "You mean to use your Ghosts." I stated.  
pJosh nodded and several Gastlys and Haunters appeared around them from the shadows. "They want their home back as much as i do. If it comes to a heavy fight, you go on ahead."  
pHopefully it won't, i thought to myself. The sun had set, and the residents of Lavender still weren't back yet. Maybe they knew something we didn't, but we were sure going to find out. "Alright everyone. Follow Josh, keep low, and be ready for a fight."  
pI was hoping it was a fight we could win.  
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	12. Part 12

pbPart Thirty-three-Metala Myuu Carnage 99'!/b  
pThe first Metala Myuu we ran into hit the ground before it even got off a shot, Doner weakening it with Take Down and Raizap finishing up with a Thunder attack to end all Thunder attacks. We jumped over the carcass and headed towards the small basement door stored a few feet away from the tower. According to Josh it would take us straight into the main hallway. We threw open the door and were greeted by two more Metala Myuus.  
pThese two must have been defects because they were red in colour, and seemed rather bored. They had a game of Speed going on the steps of the tunnel and were clearly shocked when we barged in. One shot off with a blast of flame that filled the area and shot out of the tunnel like the air in a wind tunnel. I dove to the side a little late, caught my shin in the blast and hissed at the pain. There was nothing i could do about it now, though, so i put it in a holding place and charged into the tunnel after the fleeing Metala Myuus.  
p"We've got to stop them, they'll get everyone in here within seconds!" I roared, flying through the tunnel after the Myuus. I could see a glint of metal ahead of me every now and again, but we were matched for speed in the seemingly endless tunnel.   
pSuddenly Raizap was beside me, using Agility to match me in speed. the Raichu grinned up at me cheerfully and kept running. ::The Ghost keepers are bringing the others, we have to head these Myuus off though.::  
p"Easier said then done," i growled, twirling out of the way of a low hanging arch. "We don't know if this tunnel ends soon or opens up or what. Plus they've got a head start."  
p::Rai..good point. Oh well, we'll catch em!:: Raizap poured on a little more speed, looking like she was going to ram straight into a wall. Instead, she bounced off the wall just as she reached it, launching herself into a mid-air Quick Attack at the rear-most Myuu. It hit the ground with a metalic clang, it's friend racing on ahead. Raizap proceeded to grab it around the neck and do her best to hold it in a headlock.  
pThe Metala Myuu's red skin began to glow, and Raizap's face contorted in pain. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIII!!" She screamed, the fur on her feet and hands actually curling and smoking with the heat of the Myuu's shell.   
p"Hang in there Raizy, i'm coming!!" I sped up best i could and set my energy into a Barrier that i hung onto even as i drove straight through the Metala Myuu. At my speed, the Barrier ripped the Myuu into three peices, each one twitching but unable to attack. I slowed down to look at the Raichu. "are you going to be okay?"  
P::No problem,:: Raizap saluted with her paw and set out into a super-charged Agility, aided a little by her pain. ::Hurry, we gotta get that other one!::  
pEven as i caught up to Raizap, the other Myuu was slowing down for some reason. Raizap saw and narrowed her eyes angrily. ::MEGAAAAAAA KIIIIIICK!:: She screamed, her singed foot suddenly coming towards the robot with enough power to blow it to very teeny peices.   
pMetala Myuu saw, and shot upwards just as the Raichu's foot slammed into the wall, sending it crumbleing down. "Raizy!"  
p::GrrrrrrrRAAAAAAAAAAAAI!!:: Raizap didn't even respond to the wall, but looked upwards snarling. I could almost feel her rage, and did't blame her. ::Come back down here and fight you whimp!! Rai!!::  
pI looked upwards in the direction the Myuu had headed. The tunnel went straight up, the sides slick and light was going to be a problem. Raizap couldn't levetate, she couldn't chase. But if we gave up and let the Myuu go, we'd be pinpointed in a second. Damn! I glanced at Raizap, who was shaking angrily.   
p"Raizy, grab ahold." I held down my gold arm. Raizap looked confused, but latched on. "Hope you don't get airsick," I muttered and took off.   
pRaizap held on tight as we rocked through the corridor, but the Myuu was still way too far ahead. We're never going to catch it, I realized angrily. It's going to get away.   
pRaizap was thinking the same thing. ::Mantis I've got an idea. Throw me!::  
p"Throw you?" I asked, but at the same moment i launched her after the Myuu with one swing of my arm. I get it, i thought as Raizap sailed, airborn upwards. If I held her up with my psy powers, she could overtake the Myuu and bring it down.   
pLight ahead! The Myuu was heading for an area, but was it larger or smaller? No telling. "Raizap, hurry!"  
pStrangely, the Raichu hunched up in midair and started to glow. ::MegaRai Super Speed!:: Raizap growled, suddenly vanishing up the tunnel ahead of me. I kept after...  
pThe tunnel opened up into a huge room. The Myuu kept going up, headed straight for the ceiling. Raizap followed, bounced off the roof and came down on the Myuu's head. ::Take this! Rai!:: The Raichu's weight and momentem brought the Myuu down to the floor, slamming it against the stone with a rough sounding clang. Raizap jumped off just as the Myuu regained its footing.   
p"Thundershock it quick!" I called, touching down on the other side of the Myuu. Raizap sparked, flahed as electricity crackled and growled over the Metala Myuu.   
pWhen the Raichu was done, the robot lay unmoving. Raizap panted and whiped a paw over her eyes. ::These things are fast,:: she commented.  
pI nodded. "A little too fast. It almost outran us."  
p::Any clue where we are?:: I looked around. It was a sort of ampetheatre, high open walls and a carved stone floor. Any openings were high up and small. The hole we came up from in the floor seemed the only way in or out. I shook my head.  
pRaizap looked left and right, cupped her paws to her mouth and called. "RAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIICHUUUUUUUU?" there was no reply. Just an echo.   
pWe were lost.  
ppbPart Thirty-Four- A Big ol' fight!/bp  
  
  
  
"Left." I said solumnly.   
p  
::No way. Even your pokedex says right. We take the right tunnel.:: Raizap held J.C.N. up to the walls and watched as the screen flashed an infrared map of what the was behind them. The Infrared was being blocked though, and flickered at certain points just behind the openings.   
p  
"The 'dex says NOTHING, Raizap. One option's as good as another." I was all for going back down the tunnel we'd come from and exploring the hole in the wall. Somehow though that had a bad feeling to it. This whole place had a bad feeling to tell the truth.   
p  
Raizap moved J.C.N. to point at the ceiling. ::Uhhh Mantis..::   
p  
What now, i thought, and looked up. I could feel it even as i looked. "There's things moving around up there," I muttered.   
p  
::Friendly things or pain-to-fight things?::   
p  
I took a fighting stance. Something was coming. "Dunno. Better to be safe."   
p  
Raizap dropped J.C.N. and set her feet apart. Her cheeks sparked...whoever entered was going to get a rude surprise.  
p  
Tak! tak! taktaktaktaktak....the beating sound against the metal above us grew louder and louder. Something was coming through! I glanced warily at the 'chu...her eyes were fixated on teh ceiling. Whatever it was couldn't be good. The metal above us in hte dome shaped room began to bend inward. I brought my hands together and concentrated psy-energy between them. Come on..Come on...  
p  
A panel of hte ceiling burst away and tumbled down at us. "Look out!" I shouted and Raizap and I both dove to the sides, the metal panal crushing into the floor where we had stood seconds before. It was easily as large as Irin's workshop, but I couldn't let that phase me. I'd seen Myuutsu hurl larger things aroudn with simply a flick of her wrist. This wasnt going to frighten me.  
p  
"Zap, NOW!" I let loose the energy in my hands in a giagantic psy-blast that filled the room. A scream from above was almost drowned out as the chu's electricity sizzled through the room, snapping and crackling, augmented by the metal walls. I covered my face and dropped to my knees as the bolts of lightning sizzled around me- my grounds wouldn't work here! Damn, I'd forgotten! "Stop! Raizap, Stop!!"  
p  
::GRRAIAIIIRIRIRIRIAIIII!I!!!:: The Chu stuttered and continued shocking- she couldn't hear me over the sounds of her own electricity. I was trapped in a lightning dome. The fur on the back of my neck blackened adn i arched backwards with a scream, lightning racing into my mouth and ripping at my teeth like a thousand little men tearing. It can't end like this! i thought. I cant be brought down by a friend!!  
p  
A sudden burst of flames filled the room, mingling with the electricity. The odd shape of the dome curved them down and spread them o ut, soon the room was overcome with fire. I put out my arms, panting, trying to hold off the flames with my mind, but bolt after bolt of the chu's lighting struck against my body and forced me down. Damn! Whatever it was up there, it was ready to fight back!  
p  
Something flew past my face...something else...suddenly the room was filled with flying dark shapes, zipping past me and around me. Electricity..fire...shapes...my mind was spinning as my hands shook, trying to hold up the barrier for Raizap and myself even as she continued to shock me. What WAS these? Who was up there?  
p  
"Stop!" A voice broke through everything. But nothing stopped. Screaming, i clenched my fists as my entire body shook in protest to the torture. The shapes were clawing at me now, chattering-  
p  
"The lady," A very calm, cold, voice stated. "Informed you to stop."  
p  
A sudden cold air swept over me, the fires vanished and the electricity seemed to freeze in mid-air. Panting, i dropped my hands and collapsed on the floor, staring around without moving. I couldnt get up...I couldnt fight...  
p  
The Gaki and Gengar stood before a dark, shimmering portal. The Gaki's eyes were glowing red, the cold wind was eminating from him. Gengar twirled her staff once and stabbed it into the ground, and suddenly there were several thuds on the floor next to me. A pair of shoes and two pairs of deformed feet stepped into view as i tried to twist my eyes upward.  
p  
Kyotoshi looked down, his ears backed, Dad perched on his head and buisly beating him about the forehead. The Growlithe-Meowth person shrugged at me and held up his hands, where it was plainly visable that flames had seared the fur off. "Sorry," He muttered "Didnt mean to pull that shit..."  
p  
Jasusi leaned over and waved a wing at me. "Mine not catch Manti-sa. Damn." A Zubat flitted past her and alighted somewhere..so those were the dark shapes and the fire. that explained some things. But where was...?  
p  
Irin knelt before me before I could finish the thought. It almost looked as if he was going to cry. I tried to reach a hand out to him, and realized my skin was smoking and black, already flaking away to reveal the gold beneath. "Sorry," He whimpered again and again "I'm so sorry..."  
p  
"It's okay," I managed to croak. "I'll be fine..."  
p  
Raizap bounced onto my back and I grunted. The chu lifted a paw to touch one of the frozen lighting bolts. ::Rai...How did you do that?::  
p  
The Gaki didn't answer, simply stood. I imageined the amount of concentration it must take to hold all those bolts in place.   
p  
Gengar tsked at us. "We don't have time to fight eachother."  
p  
Kyotoshi growled "Didnt know it was them, thought it was one of those damn MetalaMyuus."  
p  
I curled up on myself and rolled over onto my back, staring up at the strange room where frozen lighting arched over me in a web. "What made our attacks so augmented?"  
p  
"A very good question," Said a strange voice. "One that I am not about to answer."p  
bPart 35- A Blast from the Forgotten Past/bp  
  
I twisted my neck around as far as i could to see where the voice was coming from. Upside down from my point of view, a man in a white lab coat with shimmering glasses and dark black hair stood, grinning up...or rather actually down...at me. His chin was pointed and his hands were held deep in his pockets. "Rakson!"  
p  
"Preceptive," the creator of my sister and I grinned broader and took a step to the side. Two Metala Myuus raised from hidden tunnels in the floor to either side of him. Kyotoshi blinked and keened, probobly an instinct. Dad, on his head, puffed up to his full size and hissed angrily. Jasusi flared her wings and screeched, making a barrier between me and the scientist. Irin just seemed to stumble backwards, mouth agape.   
p  
Gengar and Josh weren't to be so easily detered. With a twirl of her staff, Gengar pointed it straight at the scientist and glared. "You are tresspassing."  
p  
"Quite to the contrary, it is you who are tresspassing now, little girl." He shook his head and spoke softly. The glowing frozen lightning flashed off his glasses. "I have to admit though, I never expected my own private freak show to come back to play. Rejects reunited..."  
p  
"Shut up!" Of all people, it was Kyotoshi who snapped at him, his voice all but breaking. The poke-person took an uneasy step forward, his fists clenched tightly. Dad leapt from his head and moved warily to the side.   
p  
Rakson raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me, little boy, but remember that you are honestly no older than a few years, nor are your friends here." He canted his head towards the rest of us. "With the exception of perhaps Mantis..."  
p  
I was too busy thinking to listen to him gloat and torture Kyotoshi. Something was reeling its way through my mind. This room augemented attacks...when we'd entered and been attacked we'd found that out. But we'd been attacked with fire...the others had no fire pokemon..but...what had Kyo said? ....Sorry...didn't mean to pull that shit...  
p  
I could feel chunks of my skin flaking off. It was a stinging sensation. But now i had a plan. a small one, but a plan.   
p  
"I am honestly amazed that all three of you survived this long outside," Rakson drawled, looking at Irin, Kyo and Jasusi. "After all, you were aged at an accelerated rate..but not matured. I suppose the pokemon's ability to adapt is what enabled you-"  
p  
"Shut UP!" Kyotoshi started forward with a lunge, but Irin caught on quickly and looped his arms under Kyo's, holding him back. The smaller poke-person struggled as Kyotoshi swung his fists and hands in Rakson's direction. "You sick bastard! You're the one who made us like this! You're the one who changed us into damn freaks! You killed my life, damnit!"   
p  
A cold, icey spark leapt through my mind. The Gaki was signaling me. How had he...nevermind! Now wasn't the time. My eyes flashed a blue colour as I sent a telepathic message to Irin. Irin!   
p  
For a moment the kid jolted and Kyotoshi lunged against him, tears streaming down his striped cheeks, but Jasusi caught him and held on. Damn, I'd forgotten, Irin had never had another psychic to talk to before! Well now wasn't the time...Irin, calm down and listen to me. When i tell you to, let Kyotoshi go. Don't argue, just do it! Trust me!  
p  
I knew my plan would work. I could already feel the heat waving towards me, and could see the sweat breaking out on Jasusi's forehead. It had to work! it was our only chance...  
p  
Rakson flicked a hand cooly into the air. "Very amusing and philisophical, albiet a tad strongly worded," the scientist stared at us, his renigade creations. "But I suppose that it is time for both you and your friends there...to die." Dropping his hand, the two Metala Myuus began to move forward.  
p  
NOW! I screamed mentally to Irin. Imidiately he let go of Kyotoshi's arms, and the feline-canine person tripped forward over Jasusi and landed on his hands and knees on the floor. DAMN!! if he didn't get up, this would never work!! For a moment I thought we were done for, until I saw the superheated blue flame gathering on Kyotoshi's paws...  
p  
"DAMN YOU!" With a scream of outrage, the pokeperson scrambled to his feet and charged Rakson, but only got part way before his untrained, uncontroled and surpressed poke-powers broke free with all the levels that the rare candy addiction had granted him. Fire engulffed the Myuus and Rakson, arching up around the room and seeming to billow out without any control or abandon...  
p  
"Josh, hurry!" flecked with golden spots- but healed, i leapt to my feet and held out my hands, forcing the fire away from us with sheer force of mind. The Gaki only nodded as lighting bolts were suddenly released in all directions. Raizap shrieked and hid behind me, but i held my mental wall firm. The strange room augmented my powers too- the wall was stronger than it ever could have been. Glowing with fire and electricity, dark zubats fell, burning, outside my barrier. Jasusi cried out for them to join us, but the panicked creatures didnt listen.  
p  
I winced...i hadnt meant anyone to die...  
p  
A moment later, the fire stopped and hte lightning exhausted itself. Tired from the sudden force of my shield, i fell to my knees panting. Although i had been injured badly beforehand...my unique body healed itself by shedding old skin and replacing it with gold. I breathed heavily against the tile floor, not daring to look up.   
p  
Josh took a step forward, making no sound as he did. Gengar followed, shaking her head. Dragging my head up to look, i swished my tail at what I saw.   
p  
Jasusi carried a collapsed Kyotoshi in her awkward winged arms, her eyes tearing as she chattered, trying not to step on the bodies of her fallen Zubats. Kyotoshi wasn't moving and his arms were covered in dark burns. Irin seemed afraid to move, trembling visably. "Is he...is he...?"  
p  
Gengar placed her staff on the ground and shook her head, leaning upon it. "Nope, not nearly. Mantis?"  
p  
I gasped for breath before trying to explain. "Kyo's a much higher level than the rest of us...and fire is his type...although he was torched...it hasnt hurt him that badly. He's unconcious. But he'll wake."  
p  
Raizap pointed a paw and roared in outrage. ::CHA!! Those things are still moving!::  
p  
One of the Metala Myuu shells twitched convulsively a moment, its inatimate body arched in much the same manner a human would die. It clattered against the metal floor before rolling to one side, a final spark of electricity twitching away from its tail tip. Only residual shock energy...they weren't alive.  
p  
"Where's Rakson?" I suddenly demanded. Surprisingly, it was Josh who turned to answer me. With a completely ice cold grin that reached right into his demonic eyes, he seemed almost to be laughing.  
p  
"When some Gakis feed..."  
p  
I shuddered and waved my hands. "Forget it! I don't want to know." I didn't want to hear the gruesome details that lead up to his...consuming..my creator. It was only a loss- Rakson might have known how to fix my sister and I.  
p  
A shadow suddenly materialized before us, one that was oddly familiar. But at its side, there was a stranger. As the shadows melted away, i nearly fell backwards with a scream. The others turned to look at me strangely, all except Josh who clenched his fists.   
p  
Raizap was the first to speak. ::Who in the name of Ketchup?::  
p  
Myuutsu..or Mewtwo, waved her paw airly and smiled in that same sadistic manner she had before blowing my arm clean out of its socket. "So you killed our old creator, Mantis. I have to admit, that's impressive."  
p  
"Silence, Mewtwo," said the shape at the powerful psychic pokemon's side. The man there radiated authourity..mewtwo actually obeyed him. He turned on us with a somewhat kindly grin. "You've put quite a cramp in my plans, my friends. But no matter. Things will go as preceeded."  
p  
Jasusi tried to look threatening and protect the unconcious Kyotoshi at the same time, and Irin just gulped and stared ahead. "You made them..it was you..it was..."  
p  
"George, of Team Fury. Soon to rule this pitiful continent and all its pokemon. And I'm afraid you, my little creatures, have run out of luck."  
p  
There was a click, and suddenly there was a prick in my neck. I reached my paw up to pull free what was there, and a tranquilizer dart came away. I looked around at the others, darts in them too...Dad was the first to fall. Blackness began to eb in as a memory tugged at my sleeve...i saw Jasusi crumple with Kyotoshi still in her arms, Raizap teeter and fall to her side..even the Gaki gasp and fall forward, clutching his heart.  
p  
We had been beaten.  
  
  
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	13. Part 13

pbPart 36- We are SO screwed./bp  
  
I woke up when my head connected with the back of the wall. Before I had time to reach back and check for damage, the rest of me hit the floor and the wind was knocked out of my lungs. This was turning out to be a very bad day. Gasping for breath, i squeezed my eyes shut and rubbed my head, climbing to my feet.   
p  
"What's the big idea?!" I snapped, turning on George and Myuutsu. I was surprised to see them not standing in front of me but above. They'd thrown me into a pit. Tch, big deal. I could easily fly out.   
p  
George laughed- his way of laughing was completely unfit for a villian. It was more of a teenagerish giggle. I narrowed my eyes. Damn, i hated that laugh teens had. It was so fake and...ugh..popular. "I believe I should be the one asking THAT question, Mantis! You and all your little friends thought you could reclaim the tower from me, and for what?"  
p  
Josh, the Gaki, lowered his voice do dangerous levels in the darkness. A chill went up my spine as i realized he was standing directly behind me. Something about his aura seemed more complete, too...as if he had gained strength after feeding. This was getting too creepy. "This tower does not belong to you."  
p  
George laughed again, this time louder. I was forced to cover my ears. Damn...just based on that laugh alone I was going to psy-blast his tongue out. "You have no IDEA the power which lurks in this building!! And no idea how to tap it! Don't make me laugh, you little children." The spikey haired man stepped away from the edge of the pit, waving a hand before disappearing, still laughing.   
p  
Myuutsu remained, snearing down at me. "I knew they shouldn't have put a failsafe in you too."  
p  
"A what?" I lashed my tail angrily around me, wondering if they'd left my pokemon with me. I was getting sick and tired of these stupid mysteries. Not only did I only have a few cryptic clues to help me, none of them directly helped my sister. I was getting SICK of it!  
p  
Blinking silently, Myuutsu raised her nose to the air in a superior manner. "A failsafe, you little fool. It keeps you from going insane like the rest of them."  
p  
Had I just been complaining about getting no where a moment ago? Forget it!! "Explain!"  
p  
Myuutsu's eyes narrowed as she looked down on me in the darkness, blue light glowing in their pits. "I think you're in no position to demand answers from me." I clenched my fists at my sides as she spoke. I was going to fly up there and grab her around the neck and pull her into the darkness with me if that was the way she was going to be- "Oh, and another thing. I wouldn't reccomend using your powers at the moment."  
p  
"Why not!" I felt someone brush past me in the darkness and the fur on my neck stood up...I couldn't see anyone down here unless I started glowing..but if Myuutsu was still speaking truth-  
p  
Myuutsu pointed in the darkness and a small bolt of light shot out and touched my wrists. It didn't hurt, but it lit them up for me. I could see a small electronic bracelet around each of my wrists, which now that i knew it was there, i could feel it humming against my skin. what...?  
p  
"Emitters," Myuutsu explained. "Developed not long ago by some other Cinnibar scientists. It restricts the use of psychic powers-" she spoke with a bored drawl in her voice. "Thus rendering you, Mantis, completely helpless."  
p  
With a laugh, Myuutsu too was gone, and whatever trap door was above us was suddenly slammed shut. a rain of rock dust trickled down on me and i shut my eyes and jumped away to avoid it, only to slam into someone in the darkness.   
p  
"OW!! Watch it! That's my foot!" Gengar's voice snapped at me as I hobbled backwards only to colide with another body.   
p  
::RAICHUUUUUUUU!!!:: oh no...I'd stepped on 'Zap...  
p  
The room was lit up with a bright electric shock which bounced off the walls. For a moment before the bolts struck me, I could see we were all here. Jasusi was bent over Kyotoshi, who was still unconcious from his fire attack, and Dad was perched on her head. Gengar and the Gaki stood in front of me, and Irin was curled up in a corner. The stone walls were high and covered in paintings...hyrogliphics...which seemed vaugely familiar...  
p  
i didn't have time to think about it much more, Raizap's lightning unintentionally saw to that.  
p  
bPart 37- Lost in the Darkness  
/bp  
Holding a hand over my eyes, i leaned back against the wall and slumped down. This looked bad. Utterly hopeless. Well, i couldn't say it LOOKED anything...it was too dark to see...and my head was pounding from 'Zap's thundershock.  
p  
A body slumped down next to me in the dark. "Mantis, I'm scared." ...It was Irin.  
p  
I stared upwards into the darkness to where Myuutsu and George had vanished from. "It's okay, Irin. We'll get out of here. Don't worry about it."  
p  
The kid keened in his throat next to me. "Not worry? Mantis, they've got these weird things on me..I can't do anything-"  
p  
The emiters were on Irin too then. Damn...And until Kyotoshi managed to regain conciousness, we could be stuck in the dark a very long time...I sniffed and closed my eyes. Dark inside, dark out. I wondered about my sister...Myuutsu had said I was the only one with a failsafe. That meant that all these siblings of mine as well, may well suffer my sister's fate...  
p  
Irin made a choking sound next to me. Was the kid crying? "Irin, please, trust me. I've been through much worse than this. We'll be alright."  
p  
"It's not...It isn't...Gek!" I felt a brush of air as Irin doubled over twitching and began to glow faintly. Glow...glow??   
p  
I leapt to my feet, gathering the small poke-person in my arms. "Gengar, Josh, Jasusi, Dad! Come quick, Irin's evolving!"  
p  
The glow from Irin's body lit the strange chamber, dancing against the hyrogliphics now visable. I didn't have time to think about them though. Irin's body twisted in my arms as his snout elongated, ripping at his eyes. He cried out in pain as blood streamed from the torn skin around his eyes. Blood began to streak through his hair as his ears grew, and he thrashed. Tears streaked down his face.  
p  
"Make it stop! Mantis please!!"  
p  
Gengar shied away when she saw what was happening, shaking her head. "What's doing this?"  
p  
The Gaki lifted his face to the walls. "The 'Glyphs...they're ancient. This chamber must be used to raise the level of pokemon...sort of like a rare candy. Irin must have gained a level during his time here."  
p  
This place was like a rare-candy microwave? Damn! Obviously it wasn't the same, though, if Irin was in so much pain. "He'll die if we don't do something. We've got to nuetralize the levels."  
p  
Jasusi brushed Irin's hair away with her wingtip, chattering. "Catch, Eerie. Catch, kree..."  
p  
Dad looked down from his perch on her head and meowed softly. ::I don't think there's much we can do, Mantis. Not here. The leveling's much to slow. He's going to evolve only partway...::  
p  
"That'll kill him!" I lost control and snapped at the meowth. "I refuse to let one of my siblings die." But it came down simply to the fact that...honestly...I had no idea what to do...  
p  
Raizap drooped her ears and sat on Kyotoshi's motionless body, tiny electric sparks fizzling around her cheeks from her distress. :: Isn't there anything we can do for him?::  
p  
I shook my head and looked down at Irin's face as the pokeperson gave a shriek of pain. "I don't know, Raizap. I don't know."  
p  
Gengar looked at her feet as she spoke. "Someone might."  
p  
We all looked up at her in shock. It didn't matter, did it? Trapped in this hole, anyone who could help wouldn't be able to help in time. "Who?" Asked the Gaki.  
p  
Gengar twirled her staff like a baton before pointing it directly at Raizap. "Tada!"  
p  
"HER?"  
p  
::Chu?::  
p  
"D'oh! Not her! Kyotoshi!" The ghost keeper smacked herself in the forehead.  
p  
I held Irin close against myself as I looked at Kyotoshi's unmoving body. If this room truely was like a rare candy..would he be coherent when woken up? Irin screamed again, the sound echoing off the walls, and I realized we had no choice. "Alright. Raizap, give him a wakeup shock."  
p  
The Raichu nodded and touched her tail to Kyotoshi's forehead. ::CHU!::  
p  
I crossed two of my fingers and hugged the convulsing Irin close. This would be a true gamble.  
p  
bPart 38- Weakness breeds Strength/bp  
  
"JESUS FUCKIN GOD!" Kyotoshi leapt awake as Raizap's electrical bolts surged through him. In fact, he leapt so far that he slammed his head against the stone sides of the pit we were trapped in. In the faint light Irin's evolution gave us, I could see the pokeperson snarling groggily and rubbing his head.   
p  
::Wow,:: Dad mused aloud, ::That was like a double-blasphemous whammy.::  
p  
"Shut up you damn freak," Kyo growled and opened his eyes, blinking in confusion at the sight of Irin's glowing body in my arms. The little psy-pokeperson twitched again and let out an agonized moan. Spatters of blood were begining to fall as his body shape contorted and ripped at itself. "What the hell...?"  
p  
I lowered my eyes and shook my head, staring into the warped face of what was Irin. "We don't have much time, Kyo."  
p  
Kyotoshi scrambled upwards now, his hands shaking as he backed farther against the rock, palms flattened out. He was afraid, as Irin spasemed again and a painful crack resounded in the air. "Wh..what the hell's going on with him?"  
p  
"He's evolving," Gengar supplied calmly. The Gaki hovering just behind her simply nodded stoicly.  
p  
"He can't evolve, damnit. He ain't done nothin-"  
p  
::Chaa...::  
p  
I nodded to Raizap, who was motioning to teh hyrogliphics on the wall. "It's the room, Kyotoshi. Something isn't right with it, and it causes slow leveling. But apparently it's not the same as a rare candy-"  
p  
Kyotoshi's fur was bristling as he looked up and around himself nervously- anywhere but at Irin. "I'LL say it's not!"  
p  
Jasusi flared her wings and screeched, panicked. The zubat-pokeperson seemed increadably unwilling to let any of us die. "Catch, Kyo! No damn Eerie Iri- Catch!"  
p  
"Shhhhit..." Running a hand shakily through his hair, the growlithe-meowth person turned away from us, looking along the length of the wall before spinning back. All of us were watching him now..and Irin was running out of time. "Well what do you want ME to do about it, damnit?"  
p  
"Gengar said you could help."  
p  
"How the hell can I help, huh?" His voice was frantic now, mingling with the hight pitched shrieks from Irin. I could tell from here his hands were shaking. Kyotoshi did not cope well with responsability.   
p  
Gengar slitted her eyes "You know."  
p  
"Like hell I do!"  
p  
With a sudden show of her age, Gengar folded her arms and looked utterly confused at this. "Well gee...I figured you would. Now we reallyi are/i in trouble."p  
"Hell with this," Kyotoshi held the sides of his head with his paws. In the faint glow of the dark, I could see his arms shaking ever so slightly. He was afraid. Very very afraid. p  
Josh blinked once in the dark, his eyes opening to a glow-like state. "Evolve him."  
p  
Kyotoshi seemed ready to break down and cry. I nearly felt sorry for him. His voice became an almost panicked laugh. "EVOLVE him? How the hell...that'll only make it worse!"  
p  
I held tightly to the small poke-person as he screamed and arched his back in my arms. He wouldn't last long. "What could be worse than this?"  
p  
Kyotoshi stood silently, turned and stared at me. Dad looked up at him, as did the Chu. All eyes were on the most irrational member of our ragteam now.  
p  
"Alright," Kyotoshi finally whispered, lowering his gaze from Irin's tortured body in my arms. "Alright....I'll do my damn best. But this might not work."  
p  
I looked at Irin's face, blood obscuring most of his features. Shaking my head, I reminded them all. "We're running short of time."  
p  
A haunted look entered Kyotoshi's face as he reached hands into his pockets, bringing up fists which he kept clenched closed. "We only need a little while..."   
p  
Opening his hands in front of us, we could see what had been kept in his pockets. Rare candies. Kyotoshi's vice, and Irin's last hope.  
p  
  
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